Odium
by Ceilidh Hall
Summary: In the darkest shadows of the Root Foundation, there lies people who have been completely forgotten by the surface world. Not all of the ninja who come to serve its twisted head hail from the village. Some are brought from afar, brainwashed into becoming the perfect soldiers. One such remnant of the past has a chance to reclaim his lost life. This is the story of the falling rain.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One – The Soldier**

Klaxons screeched within the confines of the Torture and Interrogation Headquarters of Konoha. The majority of active and able ninja rushed out into the streets of the village to see where their aid was needed. Those not trained in the ninja arts hurried to gather all important documents and a skeleton force of shinobi escorted detainees to their secure locations. In the distance, sounds of explosions gave people pause. Diligent training paid off as they went about their emergency protocols in a quick and organised fashion.

The door to one of the interrogation rooms opened up as two of the skeleton crew pulled out one detainee. A village traitor by the name of Mizuki, brought out from months of confinement to question about outside contacts. He looked around in panic for some clue of what was going on. The two ninja gripping his cuffed arms began to lead him deeper into the complex. But then another of their associate members appeared before them.

"Nagarai?" frowned one of the ninja. "What is it?"

Nagarai. A reasonably tall man with a shaved head, blue eyes and a somewhat gaunt complexion. He was known among the force as a stoic shinobi of few words. Hard working and without complaint, but an otherwise boring guy. His lack of expression and light step made for a sudden approach that unnerved many of his co-workers. Given now, with the alarms sounding, this was only accentuated further.

"Orders. Morino-san needs you both in the streets. Evacuation routes are being flanked. Immediate support is needed."

The two ninja stiffened. "R-right!" one of them responded. He loosened his grip on Mizuki. At that very moment the detainee attempted to ram the other ninja in order to slip free. However Nagarai's hand darted through the air, grasping the back of his hair in a tight hold. Mizuki grunted and glared. The ninja that loosened his grip flinched guiltily. "Oh. Right. Can you take this one to prisoner evac?"

Nagarai was already moving to take hold of Mizuki's arms. He gave a firm nod. The two ninja thanked him and ran off for the doors, leaving the two semi-alone in the hustle and bustle. Nagarai checked the hallway traffic. Things seemed to be quieting down. He gave Mizuki a shove forward to get him moving.

Members of staff rushed on by, folders clutched to their chests, boxes held tight to their abdomens. They manoeuvred carefully past the two of them, all headed in the same direction. Though the klaxons continued to sound off, all other noise died away as Nagarai pushed Mizuki further towards the back of the building.

"What the hell's going on out there anyway?!" Mizuki growled, glaring over his shoulder. They turned a corner into a quieter still part of the building. Mizuki's ignored question slipped from his mind as he heard the sound of footsteps distancing. He knew he couldn't have been the only one being interrogated at this time. There should be others nearby making their way to the evac point. It lit off a warning signal in his mind.

" _I don't know T and I protocol. Maybe this is to keep prisoners apart."_ it was a possible explanation, but good sense told him not to count on it. He wasn't sure what else there could be, but he didn't want to waste any more time on the thought. Wherever he was headed, he didn't want to get there. This was his first real chance at an escape since he got locked up, and he wasn't going to waste it. His body might have weakened, but he remembered his training.

He let Nagarai lead him on some more, until something presented itself. Something came. A gurney in the hallway, there if the interrogated had a sudden violent mental or physical breakdown. Mizuki focused, listening to Nagarai's movements. He counted the seconds, masked his intention, and when the time came, he sharply stepped back, ramming the back of his head into Nagarai's nose. He felt the connection and swiftly darted forward, jumping to get his feet on the gurney. From there he flipped backwards, and with precision that impressed even him, he slipped his bonds around Nagarai's throat. He bent forward and lifted his warden off the ground, strangling him with the chain of his cuffs.

"Sloppy!" he viciously mocked. "That was your last mista-"

His words cut off short as, shockingly, Nagarai's hands somehow appeared before his face. One arm caught him under the neck while the other tightened the grasp into a sleeper hold. Struggling, Mizuki craned his neck just enough to see out of the corner of his eye what his mistake must have been. What he saw horrified him. Nagarai's neck was turned one hundred and eighty degrees from his torso, his arms bent impossibly to make their hold. His feet, aloft just a second ago, touched the floor.

"What the hell?!" Mizuki cried. Then, just as he thought it was as bad as it was going to get, he caught sight of something from the other corner of his eye. He looked back ahead and froze at the sight of a second Nagarai standing before him. This one without the bizarre physical anatomy. As the blockage of blood to his brain started to take its toll, Mizuki despairingly relented. "Alright! I give-"

Again his words were cut off by a hand shooting at him. The real Nagarai grabbed Mizuki by the jaw, palm completely covering his mouth. Confused and afraid, Mizuki looked Nagarai in the eyes. He saw nothing in them but cold apathy.

The clone that grappled Mizuki burst. Ice cold water poured over his entire body. Mizuki flinched from the surprise. Yet it was nothing compared to what came immediately after it. A spark on Nagarai's hand became a stream of electricity shooting through Mizuki's entire body, conducted by the water that thoroughly soaked him. He screamed into Nagarai's palm, his entire body spasming as every single nerve he possessed violently reacted. The water steamed and hissed. His flesh seared. He had never known agony like this in his life.

Amidst the shriek of lightning, a popping sound could be heard. Nagarai blocked the fluids with his free arm. He relented the lighting and let go of Mizuki. The dead ex-shinobi fell back from the blackened patch on the floor where he stood, empty eyes staring up towards the ceiling. Scorched skin gave off an acrid stench that rose in thin, smoky trails. Nagarai stared down at Mizuki's body, feeling nothing.

" _Primary objective complete."_ he thought to himself, stepping over Mizuki's body to wipe his sleeve on the sheet of the gurney. Now for the next step. Procure the transcripts of Mizuki's interrogations, then hide his actions behind an explosion that will be written off as an enemy attack. Of course Nagarai would have to sufficiently injure himself in order to sell the story, but that would not be a problem.

Danzo trained his operatives to be capable of at least that much.

Looking down both sides of the hallway, he listened for any sound of someone coming his way. The coast sounded clear, but he knew better than to leave the body here for chance to betray him. He grabbed hold of Mizuki's ankles and began dragging the body to a nearby door. He opened it and brought the body inside a janitorial closet. There he opened up his weapon pouch and procured several paper bombs. He stuck them onto the body and either wall of the closet. He stepped out, placed a cement pellet in the notch of the deadbolt, and closed the door. The pellet would burst and seal the door shut, just in case.

He began the next part of his mission. He knew well where the transcripts were kept and had to make haste before one of the civilian staff members took it to safety. On the way he stuck bombs on whatever surface no one would look upon. If the village survived the current attack, it would do fine without this building for a while. If not, it wouldn't matter. Root's cover had to be maintained.

He reached the file room and found to no surprise several workers throwing files into cardboard boxes. A quick scan told him that they had not yet reached the filing cabinet where Mizuki's documents were kept. With no effort at all, Nagarai put on a distressed expression and addressed the people inside the room.

"Forget the documents!" he shouted. "The enemy has placed bombs in the building! Evacuate immediately!"

The terror in the eyes of the men and women assured him they would need no second telling. He stepped back and ushered them to the exit well away from where he had killed Mizuki. Not a single one of them looked back as the room emptied. When the last one was out of sight, Nagarai's expression flattened again. He entered the file room and headed straight for the cabinet he needed.

Several months ago Mizuki betrayed the village by attempting to steal the sacred Scroll of Seals passed down since the birth of Konoha. To the masses, and even Mizuki himself, this was the act of a man with no love for his village looking to make his fortune and retire in obscurity as a missing-nin. There was more to this deed, however. Mizuki did not come up with this plan on his own. He was guided towards it, and the path to the scroll was kept clear to ensure he would succeed. The intent was to create artificial security gaps so that Danzo could further push his agendas upon the Sandaime.

But things became more complicated when Mizuki involved the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The matter became much more closely observed, out of concern that Mizuki had also planned to put the Jincuuriki in the hands of Konoha's enemies. The chance of Root's involvement being discovered were low, but Nagarai was ordered to infiltrate the Torture and Interrogation Force nonetheless to watch over the situation and, should the chance emerge, silence Mizuki.

The current chaos seemed like the most apt opportunity, in Nagarai's opinion.

It didn't take him long to find Mizuki's file. He flipped through the pages to confirm before slipping them inside his flak jacket. For a moment he considered looking around for other files of interest. But it was rejected quickly. If Danzo had wanted more from him, he would have ordered it. Stepping outside of the bounds of the mission is unnecessary and presents an unacceptable margin for error.

Nagarai stopped. He heard the sound of the handle to the door turning. He closed the drawer of the cabinet and turned around, keeping the side with his weapon holster away from the view from the door and his hand near it. The door opened slowly, but the one responsible made no bid for stealth. When it stood completely ajar, the light from the file room cast upon the individual. Nagarai was perplexed.

"Yakushi." he spoke, unmoving. "Why are you here?"

There was something off about the way Yakushi Kabuto stood there. There was nothing deliberate in the way he held himself. No guard or purpose. He looked inadvisably relaxed as a matter of fact. It was a possible feint, of course. Kabuto's role as a Root operative was infiltrator after all. But of course this was different. There was no need to put on an act for a fellow Root member.

Therefore, he likely wasn't here as a member of Root.

The second Nagarai reached this conclusion, Kabuto twitched his wrist and a curved kunai appeared in his grasp. He dashed forward and in a split second was right in front of him. But Nagarai hadn't lowered his guard even at the sight of an associate. He drew his own and guarded against the swipe. By the weight Kabuto put into pressing his kunai into Nagarai's, it seemed he intended to initiate a bladed deadlock. Unfortunately for him, there was a significant difference between the two men. Kabuto infiltrated for the purpose of gathering information.

Nagarai infiltrated for the purpose of assassination.

A fraction of a second after the kunai connected, Nagarai lashed out with a front kick to Kabuto's gut. The impact staggered the younger shinobi backwards. Nagarai threw his kunai at Kabuto, aiming purposefully a little high. Kabuto, surprised by the swiftness of the counter and parry, ducked to avoid the blade. But the moment the kunai left Nagarai's hand, he brought both of them together in a quick pair of seals. He grabbed the filing cabinet beside him and arced lightning chakra through the metal. It jumped between cabinets until it reached the one beside Kabuto. There, a drawer burst out with great force and speed, striking Kabuto in the head. He crumpled to his side immediately.

Nagarai stood over the dazed Kabuto, studying him from above. That was pitifully easy. Too easy for a Root operative. His eyes narrowed as he looked upon Kabuto's face. Something was wrong. The side of the face that was struck by the drawer was misaligned from the rest. Almost like the face itself was artificial.

Sudden movement caught Nagarai's eye right then as two more Kabutos ran in from the doorway. One leapt atop the line of filing cabinets while the other flanked from the side. The twin assaults were much more threatening than the attack of the first. Nagarai was forced to block and evade rather than outright counter. It was trying. He wanted to punish the one on his left for the foolish ascension, but the readied attacks of the one to the right enabled the foolishness and forced Nagarai to defend from his right, his left and above.

" _When fighting multiple opponents in close quarters..."_ As once as a thousand times Nagarai was glad of his spatial awareness. He didn't have the luxury of checking, but he knew that not far behind him one of the lower drawers of he cabinets had been left open by the hurried workers. The two Kabutos pressed their attacks harder as he drew nearer, clearly intending to trip him. Instead at the right moment he stepped up onto the drawer. _"never lose sight of your surroundings!"_

One Kabuto reached in, in case Nagarai jumped back. The other attacked high, in case he climbed. But it seemed they did not know they had reached the emptier side of the file room. Nagarai's weight was enough to topple the cabinet forward, enabling him to perform a dodge roll around the Kabuto on the floor. He landed low and swiped with his leg at the back of that Kabuto's knees, but there was enough reaction time for that one to flip forward and evade.

The other turned and threw his kunai, which Nagarai was fast enough to catch out of the air. It was a ruse. They expected Nagarai to dodge left or right. The higher up Kabuto leapt to Nagarai's right while the one that flipped threw his kunai too to punish Nagarai if he dodged to the left. Instead Nagarai blocked the second kunai and burst forward, vaulting over the line of cabinets and into the next aisle. The two Kabutos didn't pursue him immediately. Instead they carefully stepped around to the ends of the aisle they occupied. Nagarai was just considering his next action when, unpleasantly, the first Kabuto rose up, pulling his face back into position. As if the situation wasn't difficult enough.

" _I need room to form seals."_ slowly he squatted down, ready to move at a moment if any of the three lunged at him. The one in front and the one on the left procured a pair of those curved kunai each, while the one on the right began to weave his hands together. Nagarai reacted to this and leapt straight up in a single flipping bound to the ceiling, repeating the same two seals he used earlier. _"Raiton: Shocking Vein!"_

Landing feet first on the ceiling, he grabbed the hot bulb of the light in his hands. He ignored the pain as he jolted a stream of lightning through it and the wires that connected the rest of the bulbs in the room. Each one of them exploded in a shower of glass that cast the room into near darkness. What light was left came from the open doorway, dim though it was. Nagarai threw himself back the instant his jutsu was complete, narrowly dodging a pair of kunai in the process.

He landed within another aisle. Unfortunately there was no way to mask his descent. Even if the room had been in total darkness, the thin pieces of broken glass crunched underfoot. Judging by the approaching sounds of more broken glass, his position was indeed compromised even in his low stance. Still, he was not without tricks still up his sleeve. Though it wasn't quite the ideal circumstance, he put his hands before his face in the snake seal.

A deafening explosion erupted several hallways back as the paper bombs detonated. Streams of flame rushed down the corridors, filling the file room with a flash of orange light for just a second. The glow of the lights was replaced by the blaze of flame. The three Kabutos unanimously whipped around in shock of the unexpected explosion. They then looked up sharply as the sprinkler system activated, pouring water over them all.

" _Burning through a lot of chakra fast. Need to end this quick."_ Nagarai felt the cascade of water drizzle upon him as he changed his seal from the snake to the tiger. _"Hydro Clone Jutsu!"_

He reached his chakra into the water touching his body. The streams reached out, absorbing the droplets and taking on bigger, solid forms. In seconds, there were two copies of himself standing in the darkness. They moved without need for command, one darting around the aisle, the other vaulting over. Nagarai took a breath and came around the other aisle, headed straight for the Kabuto that had opted for jutsu in place of kunai.

He recognised the fierce blue light rushing around this Kabuto's hands. The Chakra Scalpel; a surgical technique. The mere sight of it spoke volumes of Kabuto's intentions. Plenty enough information for Nagarai to know how to approach.

With each step he'd taken since forming the clones, he had been pooling his chakra to his feet, pulling what he stepped upon. Another string of seals and a tricky performance of chakra control saw him lashing a kick that was a long shot from connecting. But that wasn't the intention. He surged lightning chakra into the shards of broken glass on the sole of his sandal and shot it out in a sharp hail scattering towards Kabuto. It appeared his trick was unexpected, for Kabuto failed to dodge in time. He could only block as the glass shrapnel penetrated the skin of his arms and tore through his clothes. The technique was by no means fatal, nor even that damaging. But the instinct to guard one's face? That was valuable.

It was proof that this one wasn't expendable.

That wasn't the only benefit. With Kabuto's eyes momentarily blocked, Nagarai charged in low and delivered a punch at his maximum range to Kabuto's gut. Kabuto predicted the attack and jumped back. His hands drew from his eyes just in time to see shuriken flying right at him. His only option was to sway back hard. He dodged the shuriken and rolled backwards. He expected Nagarai's continued assault and slashed out with his chakra scalpel the instant his feet hit the floor again. Nagarai backed off.

" _He hasn't relaxed his hands from that position since he performed his jutsu."_ Kabuto retaliated with a frontal assault, pressing forward while slashing. Nagarai weaved around the attacks. He had to admit he was impressed. No openings. He protected his vulnerable areas very well without trading off on his aggression. The mind of a medic at work, he supposed. _"First I need to interrupt his focus on the scalpel."_

When Root members acted without need for disguise, they carried their tanto on the back of their hip just like everybody else. But in the Torture and Interrogation Force, it went without saying that carrying open weapons was a safety risk. For this reason Nagarai established the cover of a man that, though dependable, was unsociable. He sat with no one. Therefore no one knew of the tanto he carried on his back.

He feinted high to invite Kabuto to make an attack that would allow him to draw his weapon. To his surprise, Kabuto didn't take it, and instead punished Nagarai with a sweeping kick to the shin. The force buckled him and dropped Nagarai to one knee. Making the most of the opportunity, Kabuto slashed with the chakra scalpel, aiming right for Nagarai's chest. It was dangerous, but Nagarai had no choice. He reached out and grabbed Kabuto's arm to stop the attack. And of course received a swift cut to his own arm for it. He winced in pain as the muscles were severed. Kabuto smirked again as Nagarai lost all control of his hand.

"This is surprising." he mocked. His hand reared back to strike again. "You're nowhere near as strong as I'd heard."

The look of pain dropped from Nagarai's face. "Would you say I'm only around ten percent as strong?"

The odd question caught Kabuto off guard. The smirk disappeared and was replaced with a troubled from. His eyes whipped to the side as he suddenly caught sight of one of the other Nagarai's leaping at him, kunai in hand. _"I was fighting a clone!"_ he realised, turning to meet the coming attack. This Nagarai slashed at him. Kabuto swayed and countered. But against his expectations, his hand cut far too easily through his target. The attacking Nagarai became translucent and hit Kabuto full force, knocking him back. _"No! He was bluffing!"_

By the time Kabuto realised this, Nagarai had drawn his tanto and lunged. His blade penetrated the pit of Kabuto's arm and reached up, severing several internal organs, including the wind pipe. Kabuto hit the wall. The hydro clone became nothing but water. Blood spurted out from his mouth as he slid down, clutching his throat.

Nagarai glanced across the room. The other two Kabutos twitched before falling into crumpled heaps on the floor. So he returned his attention to the one that most seemed to be the real one. "This is convenient." normally he wouldn't speak at a time like this, but he wanted to try and pry some information from Kabuto before he passed away. "Now I actually have one of Orochimaru's agents to blame the explosion on. I won't need to mutilate myself. Thank you."

Kabuto glared at him, but the anger was fading as he struggled to breathe. There was no glimmer of confusion in his look, but it wasn't enough to say one thing or the other. Sadly it didn't look like Nagarai was going to get anything substantial out of this traitor.

He considered staying to watch Kabuto die, but a crashing sound from outside the room reminded him that the building was currently unsafe. He took a moment to check upon the documents he'd grabbed to make sure they were still with him. Then he stepped over Kabuto's legs and walked out of the room.

A new explosion from the hallway threw him from his feet. He soared backwards, head striking against a cabinet. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

* * *

A distance away, yet too close for comfort, a deep rumbling sound permeated. Nagarai came to when the tremors jostled him from the darkness. A searing migraine in his skull bit away at his thoughts. He tried to move, but his limbs ignored him. The only things he could seem to manage were breathing, and opening his eyes.

A ceiling fan hung static above him. The air was somewhat stuffy. The only source of light was coming in through the blinds of the window to his right, surrounded by photographs and dining room furniture. From what he could see and hear, the battles were taking place somewhere beyond these streets. A rattling sound from his left caught his notice. He turned his head and found... Kabuto. Standing there with his back to him, seemingly alive and well.

" _The one I killed was flesh and blood."_ this Kabuto looked just as drenched as Nagarai himself was. He tried to see if there was a hole in the clothes where he had stabbed, but Kabuto was busying himself with an array of tools on a set of drawers. That said, watching closer he could see that Kabuto's left arm was making much stiffer movements. The dots connected and Nagarai couldn't keep himself from staring at the back of Kabuto's head, as if it too had a face. _"He healed himself from that?!"_

That was impossible. The kind of cut he'd dealt would have severed several arteries, perhaps pierce a lung and certainly go through the throat. To perform the kind of medical surgery to save oneself while blood poured into the lungs was beyond even what the legendary Tsunade could do, Nagarai believed. The only explanation that made sense was that there was another on hand medic. The real Kabuto? The other Kabutos had been some sort of flesh copies, and crumbled the moment this one was downed. If that had been a ruse in order to make Nagarai lower his guard-

"Actually, I think I'm the one who's due to show you gratitude." Kabuto turned his head and smiled coolly. Nagarai didn't take his eyes off of his captor's, though the spotted in his peripherals the brush with which Kabuto appeared to be inscribing seals unto a scroll. "These past several years have been remarkably straightforward. Everything went off without a hitch. I suppose this made me conceited." delicately he picked up the scroll and brought it over to the table Nagarai lay paralyzed upon. "Thank you for correcting my hubris. That said..."

All delicacy disappeared as Kabuto drove his fist into Nagarai's gut. Air exploded from Nagarai's lungs and his diaphragm seized up, preventing him from drawing more back in. He choked and wheezed for several long lasting seconds while Kabuto sadistically smirked. He leaned in close. "I'm sure you won't begrudge me for that."

While Nagarai continued to gasp and until his muscles relaxed enough for him to regain control, Kabuto went about putting his tools away. Once they were securely returned to his pouch, he returned to Nagarai's side, no less enjoying himself. Despite his training, it was Nagarai's turn to glare up at his attacker.

"You haven't... killed me..." he panted. "But you should know... you can't make me talk."

Kabuto snorted. "Do you really think you have anything you could tell me anyway?"

Nagarai lay perplexed. And perhaps frustrated, if that was the right descriptor for what he was experiencing. True enough he couldn't think of a reason why Kabuto would wish to kill him, but likewise he had no idea what information he could look to pry. As a fellow Root member he knew well enough of the curse seal that restricted them from speaking anything of Root's operations.

"As much as I like to watch you struggle to figure things out, I don't have the luxury of time." the mirth Kabuto had displayed evaporated as he set to his unsettling work. He lifted the scroll he'd just scribed and turned it over above Nagarai's head. Realising his purpose, Nagarai considered resisting what little he could. But he knew it would simply be an act of futility. A delay of the inevitable. Kabuto pressed the scroll upon Nagarai's forehead. He felt the wet ink against his skin. "Just in case there's some shred of you that hasn't been completely indoctrinated, I'll tell you not to be afraid. I'm sure you'll agree afterwards that this is for your benefit."

" _Benefit?"_ Nagarai was no closer to understanding Kabuto's motive when the scroll was peeled away. He could feel the ink still upon him. Kabuto shredded the now useless scroll and discarded it in a nearby waste bin. He then returned to the head of the table, smiling down upon Nagarai.

"What I'm about to perform is a procedure on your brain. I don't know how much you've been able to retain after Danzo's brainwashing, but I doubt it's very much. According to my research you're a special case. You've had some memory alterations implanted alongside the reconditioning. Tell me. What do you remember of your life before Root?"

Another rumble saw the room shake, yet Kabuto remained unconcerned by it, as if he knew the danger would not reach this place. His complete calm and provocative words addled with Nagarai's already aching head. Yet he had presence enough to answer.

"Danzo-sama did no brainwashing. I was a slave to a rebel faction. They manipulated me with deceptions and illusions. Danzo-sama rescued me, helped put my mind back together, and gave me a renewed purpose."

Kabuto snorted derisively. He leaned in again, displaying an inadvisable flair for dramatics. "The funny thing about brainwashing is that at our roots, we've all been affected by it. Any time you've ever resisted doing something because you don't want to upset someone important to you, you've allowed yourself to be manipulated. Those that don't are called mentally ill. Sociopaths mostly. The ones that refuse to let the rules of society inhibit their decisions." he smirked. "This I learned from Danzo."

His perspective was contentious, but it meant little. Philosophical quandaries were of no value to an assassin, and so Nagarai had been taught not to care about such things. Yet for some reason Kabuto seemed to believe he was doing Nagarai a favour right now. Since he couldn't figure out why on his own merit, the only logical conclusion was to press. It seemed that Kabuto was fond of talking anyway.

"Then your goal is undo this brainwashing?"

"... Such inanity." he placed his hands on the table and stared deep into Nagarai's eyes. "Brainwashing isn't something that can just be "undone". It's a process that takes months to properly implement. Anything I could do with fuinjutsu like this would leave holes in your psyche that would eventually lead to a detriment."

" _He has plans for me."_

"What I'm about to give you is some simple _perspective_. You've spent a considerable amount of your years living another life. You're feelings towards the life you lived before have diminished over time, strengthening the hold Danzo has over you. This procedure here will remove the marks on your brain that perpetuate the memory alterations that help make you believe the history that's been drilled into you."

" _He needs me to rebel against Danzo-sama."_

"Following which your brain will want to correct itself. I will aid in the process by having you quickly relive your own memories, up to the moment when Danzo took a hold of you. It's complicated, but all that matters to you is that this is the gist of it. You will relive your early history, and from there you will be free to make your own decisions about how you want to proceed."

" _He probably wants to implant memories himself to make me disbelieve."_ Nagarai glanced quickly to his right. At first his eyes fell upon the clock on the wall. It was ticking normally. Then he looked at the cabinet beneath the window. Carefully he observed the line of sunlight across the panel of wood. Finally he turned his attention back to Kabuto. "How long will this take?"

It seemed Kabuto took Nagarai's words as willing consent. He straightened up and began forming a long, complicated series of seals that Nagarai failed to follow. "Just a few minutes. If you know the workings of the memory alteration technique, it's folly to undo it. And I'm the one responsible for providing Danzo with the methods for which to perform such a thing."

Nagarai resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. Either Kabuto was attempting to reinforce the idea of Danzo possessing memory alteration techniques with a believable lie, or he was confessing to knowing such techniques himself. But Nagarai wasn't totally ignorant to the field of memory alteration. A convenient coincidence of his cover as a member of the Torture and Interrogation Force was that he had witnessed first hand the details of techniques of that nature. Simply put, a few minutes was not enough to implement them.

But he would likely be unconscious for the duration anyway.

As Kabuto finished forming his seals, Nagarai closed his eyes. He felt Kabuto's hands grasp either side of his head. Felt chakra reaching in through his temples. Then, like he expected, he once again slipped into darkness.

He dreamt.

* * *

Nagarai's eyes fluttered open. Vaguely he felt a warmth on either side of his head leave. Somewhat he saw a ceiling fan above his head. To a certain extent, he could hear noises in the distance. The details took their time swimming slowly together into something coherent. When the time came that he was able to act with any sense of clarity, he found Kabuto over by the window, leaning against the cabinet.

"So tell me." dark clouds had gathered outside. Much of Kabuto's face was cast in shadow. "How do you feel?"

Nagarai hesitated with his answer. He glanced again at the clock on the wall, found the albeit dimmer line of light on the cabinet. The clock would be an easy alteration, but unless Kabuto had predicted well and implemented a genjutsu, only a few minutes had passed according to the distance the sunlight had travelled. Either an elaborate lie, or the truth.

Kabuto waited silently for an answer. Nagarai searched his mind for one to give. "Nothing of my memories seem to have changed. You must have failed."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Nagarai gave pause. Why did he admit to that? It was uncharacteristic. What he should have done was pretend that Kabuto's procedure had been successful in order to learn more about what his captor's plans and expectations were. It was only the most logical conclusion.

Kabuto's head dipped a touch lower. "I asked you what you _felt_ , not what you _think_." he made a circling motion around his stomach. "Do you feel any sensations in your gut right now?"

Nagarai opened his mouth to respond, but held it back. Now that the question was put to him, he did notice some strange sensations going around inside of him. They were hard to explain. Unfamiliar... and yet at the same time reminiscent. "Nausea."

"Hmph. That my friend is what we call "unease"." Kabuto straightened up and approached the side of the room at the foot of the table, where Nagarai could not clearly see. "I supplemented the procedure with some light drugging. Nothing serious. The mind is a fragile thing and the last thing we need is you having an emotional breakdown in the middle of the street. You'll feel sedated for a while, but it will wear off soon."

Unease? Another impossible thing. Unease was for the inexperienced. A reprehensible emotion that serves no purpose to one worthy of serving as an active member of Root. And yet, for some reason, the expression resonated with Nagarai. He was in a situation of which he understood little and had no control. If he was to feel anything at the moment, unease would certainly be the most appropriate emotion he could think of.

Rustling drew his attention to his feet. He tried to crane his neck and to his surprise found himself to a degree capable. Again Kabuto had his back to him while dealing with something. A bag. Kabuto began to pull out what appeared to be clothes. Jet black slacks, white tee, slate jacket, faded blue muffler and dark grey sandals.

"I left a cadaver copy of you and an anonymous Oto ninja in the file room." Kabuto piled the clothes up neatly and brought them over to the table. "I'm sure you'll understand before too long that it's for the best if Danzo believes you died fighting an enemy." he put down the clothes and procured a syringe from his medical pouch. "I'm going to inject a harmless venom into your skin that will cause some swelling to make you difficult to recognise. I don't need to remind you of the precautionary measures your fellow Root members will take given the present circumstances, do I?"

It was quite unpleasant to admit, but Nagarai had to give a shake of the head. In the eyes of any fellow Root member he would be unquestionably compromised and would require immediate termination for security. His training taught him that misfortune was an unavoidable aspect of the shinobi life, and that death should not be feared. Yet right now, at this moment, he could not help but find the prospect to be extremely undesirable.

These atypical thoughts were troubling.

Good sense told him not to resist as Kabuto pierced his skin with the needle and injected the venom. The sensation sent a shiver down his spine and he felt an unwelcome heat growing in his cheek, his lower lip and his brow with each respective dose. Heat turned into a burning pain, but nothing that Nagarai couldn't endure while maintaining his usual cold expressionlessness. After the third injection, Kabuto put the syringe away and began forming more seals.

"Now I'm going to heal the incisions I made on your muscles so you can have a limited degree of movement." his palms lit up in the green glow of healing chakra that he set upon the invisible injuries he must have earlier put upon Nagarai's unconscious body. "You won't be able to do much on your own, so I wouldn't get any ideas. Believe it or not this is just the middle of my day."

While Kabuto went to what looked like simple work, Nagarai observed him just to be sure. His hair was still wet, but it was drying out. His clothes were still sodden looking. From here he could see the bloodstains on the shirt. The small area perplexed Nagarai more on Kabuto's present condition. He must have healed his body without relieving pressure from the wound. Given its location, that was yet another impossible thing from what Nagarai understood. But by now he no longer labelled these things as such. He merely accepted that Yakushi Kabuto was exceptional beyond his comprehension. For now anyway.

It didn't take long for Kabuto to return to Nagarai some motor control. True to his word his range of motion was limited. His left arm, his torso, his waist and right leg. The choices were obvious. Kabuto intended to assist Nagarai in limping out of here. No doubt after watching Nagarai strip down, change into those clothes and be without a single weapon or tool upon him. Whatever he may have hidden that was. He could tell by simple sensation he had already been removed of his open gear.

When done, Kabuto confirmed Nagarai's expectation with a jerk of the head. He backed off to the window again and allowed Nagarai to struggle up to a seated position. It wasn't a great feat to change out of his ninja gear with one arm, though slipping on the tee shirt and jacket took time. During the effort his senses dulled and his focus hardened on the clothing. He found himself growing forceful, until he realised it. He recognised the symptoms of his actions as frustration. An extremely criticised emotion.

" _What happened during the procedure?"_

Eventually though he was fully dressed. The clothes fit him well, though by now he had come to expect as much. He looked to Kabuto. The medic looked back at him, condescending smirk exchanged for a more serious stare. "Before we go any further, I have a message to pass onto you. From Orochimaru-sama. 'If there's anything you'd like to discuss, feel free to come and find me.'."

Nagarai remained silent. He fumbled with the zipper of his jacket and pulled it up to his collar. That message implied that Kabuto had no intention of dragging Nagurai along anywhere. Which made the motivation for all of this all the harder to figure out. Whatever it was, it all came down to whatever Kabuto did to him. Instinctively he touched his forehead. He felt nothing there. No ink residue on his fingers either.

In any case, he was growing tired of delaying whatever was to come. "Let's get moving then."

It appeared Kabuto appreciated his forwardness, for he shrugged and put his hands together in a seal. A distracting cloud of smoke burst out from him, and when it dispersed his face and clothes changed into that of a plain looking civilian. Nagarai didn't question it as Kabuto collected Nagarai's old clothes and put them in the bag the new clothes had been carried in. Then he helped Nagarai to his feet and walked him out the door.

The state of the streets were worse than they appeared from the apartment. Fleeing civilians could be heard in every which way while ninja loudly and urgently tried to guide them to safety. The wind carried fine debris from somewhere deeper in the village, coating everything in a layer of mess. Smartly Kabuto led Nagarai into the empty alleys, leading him deeper towards the conflict. When they emerged, they were just a hundred yards away from an emergency station.

"Please!" Kabuto feigned distress as they grew near the station. Someone there, a chunin kunoichi in her early twenties by the look of her, hurried over to help. "I think he has a concussion! He can't move on his own!"

"Right this way!" the kunoichi took Nagarai's other arm and guided him to the station. Around the corner there was a tall stack of folded up wheelchairs. There for anyone that needed to be moved quickly but carefully. A shinobi that saw them come near hurriedly prepared one for Nagarai, who was seated in it. The kunoichi turned to Kabuto. "Get yourself to Yamaeda Street for evac! We'll take care of him!"

Kabuto nodded hastily. He gave one more look to Nagarai. Concern filled to the other two, but Nagarai recognised the smugness. He ran off back the way he came, leaving Nagarai to be pushed in another direction by the kunoichi. For the first time Nagarai was able to get a look at what was happening in the village. He was stunned at the sight of a colossal serpent battling a great toad. Legend and prestige told him that those were the signature summons of Orochimaru and Jiraiya. He was already aware of the former's presence, but knowing the latter was here was a great relief.

… Jiraiya?

"Excuse me!" the kunoichi spoke with greater volume than was necessary, perhaps due to the supposed concussion. "I'll need your name. For registration. Can you remember it?"

Nagarai tore his eyes away from the distant battle for a second to look at the kunoichi. Then, remembering that he was supposed to be incognito, he turned away. "Yes. It's-"

He froze. All sounds around him faded away as if his ears were blocked by wax. All sensation outside the beating of his own heart and the faint shaking of the wheelchair as it bumped over stones was gone from him. He saw nothing that was here in the present and the now. And his stomach felt like it held a ton of bricks.

"Sir?"

He blinked. "... Tenma. My name is Mistuba Tenma."

During his training to become a Root operative, he lived without a name. He, like everyone else, had no formal designation. When he completed the trials that saw him graduate, he was given the moniker Nagarai by Danzo. It wasn't really his name. Neither was the one he had just given the kunoichi. No, he remembered his real name.

It was Yahiko.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Memories**

It happened so many years ago. Ame was gripped under the iron claw of Hanzo the Salamander's martial law. Yahiko and a group of his most trusted comrades struggled against the tyrannical rule of its battle hardened master so that the people of their country could finally begin to heal from the horrors of the Third Shinobi World War. All they wanted was an end to the fighting. But Hanzo was determined to separate Ame from the union Konoha had enforced upon it after the Second Shinobi World War, and turn it into an independent power.

Yahiko and his Akatsuki had been making preparations to destabilise a Suna camp that had taken over a village in the south western section of their country, when their base of operations came under attack by an unknown force. The base was destroyed in the conflict and Akatsuki was forced to scatter. Separated from everyone, Yahiko ran alone into the wilderness. There was he captured by the attackers and knocked unconscious. When he awoke, he was in a dark stone room lit only by a single torch.

That was where he met Shimura Danzo.

The next several months were a living hell. He had been put under operations he had been told were there to cleanse his mind of the layers of genjutsu he had been put under to be turned into a slave for the nefarious rebels that once had a hold on him. This was a thinly veiled lie that became more believable to the then nameless Yahiko. Danzo's brainwashing was simple, yet devious. He altered Yahiko's memories in the smallest and most significant of ways.

As he struggled to hold onto what he knew was real, inconsistencies began to appear. Details on the faces of people he cared about changed from one memory to the next. Pale skin became tan. Women became slender men. Then he would mistake names. No, that wasn't Abarai. That was Shinome. Or was it Tagaya? Voices, mannerisms, hopes, dreams. Each became confused to him.

All with Danzo's voice telling him it was a lie.

Between operations his sedated self spent all his time in amongst others like him. People in the process of being turned into Danzo's willing ninja. Time went by and little by little one by one people started to believe the falsehoods they were fed. Whatever their past lives were, they began to curse names under their breaths. Yahiko swore to himself in the beginning that he would not break under this torment. But eventually even that promise was something he couldn't recall completely. Everything became a question. The only consistency were the answers Danzo insisted upon.

They were not his prisoners. They were patients in an asylum for victims of mental control. He was not their captor. He was there to rescue them from their past lives and renew them with greater purpose. He was not a monster. He was their saviour. Yahiko thought he was the last one to try and hold onto his past, whatever it was. That all came to a close however when Danzo appeared before him with a pair of his Root shinobi. He brought Yahiko to an AV room with a video tape.

He strapped Yahiko to a chair and had him watch security footage of a small, secluded farmhouse coming under attack by a group of ninja. He repeated the footage over and over again of the house exploding under a hail of paper bombs as a perplexed and disturbed Yahiko watched on, until finally he spotted what Danzo wanted him to see. The back of his own head within one of the windows, seconds before the first kunai was thrown.

"We arranged this as a plan to capture the rebels." Danzo stoically explained. "However, to our surprise they immediately attacked the location. You have nothing to fear now. They believe that you are dead."

In a mind as confused and disrupted as Yahiko's was at the time, this video was the one thing besides the asylum that was clear to him. His heart trembled as for the first time in so long details started to return to him. The cloaks. Those were what he remembered with the greatest clarity. Yes, those were the cloaks of the group he had belonged to. And one face. Just a single face that he had never forgotten, though her name was lost to him.

She was the one to give the call to attack.

For all of the strength he thought he had inside of him, he had none left. He wept, he screamed, he dug his nails into the arm of the chair. Anguish, rage, hopelessness, all of it washed over him in droves. Danzo stood by for it all, looking down upon him. An hour of unrestrained despair passed until there was nothing left but hollow emptiness. It ended with Danzo asking him but a single question.

"What is your name?"

The man in the chair had no answer.

* * *

Yahiko stirred from a waking dream at the loud moan of another nearby patient. He was resting on a bedroll in one of the many tents that surrounded the Konoha hospital. It was the day after the invasion from Suna and Oto. When he first woke up, they had restrained him as he tried to leave. The flood of memories completely destroyed his reconditioning and made him a hysterical mess that needed sedation. When he awoke the second time, he convinced them that this was no longer necessary. But they were keeping a careful eye on him.

All around him there were other people in similar states to him. He was not put among the injured ninja, which came to a relief. The venom in his face had done the job and his false name likely put him as an out of town visitor. He was concerned that with his physical build he might have been suspected as an enemy ninja too inured to leave. It appeared he was being overcautious however. Ninja weren't the only kinds of people with strong, healthy bodies.

There was a greater surprise in store for him. After the sedation wore off and he woke up, he found his tongue to be rather numb. In a panic he remembered the curse seal. He had to receive help to get to a bathroom so he could look at it, but to his shock and relief the seal was missing. Another of Kabuto's gifts, surely. He had to wonder for just how long he was initially unconscious. He hadn't thought that much time had passed. It was easier to relax after that. With that and the swelling he had little to fear of Root noticing he was still alive.

"Mitsuba-san?"

Yahiko looked beside him as a young girl crouched down. There wasn't an able bodied ninja in the village who wasn't hard at work doing what they could to help. That included the genin, of which several could be seen around these tents checking on the patients and doing whatever was needed of them. This one in particular Yahiko recognised. All members of Root had been made aware of the team that surrounded Uzumaki Naruto, for security purposes. That included this girl here; Haruno Sakura.

Yahiko gave pause at the sight of her. There was so much exhaustion in such a young face. Such weight she seemed to be carrying on her. He could see her trying her best to keep it beneath the surface. For her sake, he allowed her to keep up this pretence. "Yes?"

Sakura held a medical clipboard in her hands that she looked over. She also gave a glance across Yahiko's complexion. The swelling had almost completely died down. "I've been asked to let you know that your condition has normalized. You're clear to be on your way whenever you're ready."

Ah. Yes, Yahiko felt fine and able to move, but after this morning he didn't want to risk drawing any more attention to himself. He gave Sakura a nod of understanding and began to pick himself up. He paused however as a couple of medics hurried on by, carrying a gurney with an unconscious man covered in bandages. It drew his attention more clearly to the state of the area. Of the many tents with dozens of injured people. And all the medics, doctors and nurses that worked hard to care for them.

There wasn't one of them that didn't need to mop sweat from their brow occasionally. Yet similarly there wasn't a single person that wasn't working their hardest. Yahiko settled a little as he watched them go around. He almost forgot about Sakura crouched beside him, curiously wondering what was holding him up.

He thought more about Yakushi Kabuto. One of the most bizarre men he had ever met in his life, barring a few. The supposed son of an important medical shinobi. A cover for his double life as a member of Root. Yet even that was just a persona for his real identity as one of Orochimaru's personnel. If even _that_ was the farthest extent of Kabuto's deceptions. A seasoned infiltrator able to go as far as serving as a triple agent for three different factions, who somehow found the time in a day where all three were active in the same location to liberate Yahiko. And he did it while surviving injuries that would have killed most human beings outright. All under the power of medical ninjutsu.

"Medic-nin sure are incredible." he remarked.

Sakura blinked at him in surprise. "You think so?"

Yahiko nodded again. "Their keen chakra control allows them to always do their best no matter what comes their way, because they're constantly aware of exactly what they're capable of and how to best pace themselves without losing out on efficiency. They can heal the sick and injured, but they can also fight to protect with their precision and mastery of the human body."

He glanced for a moment at Sakura. She seemed to be focusing heavily on his words. Not just polite listening either. It was encouraging to see. He expected most Genin would be too distracted with anger towards Suna and Oto. It worried him to think that the invasion might spur the youth into pursuing more aggressive roles. Konohagakure did not need any more assassins. He knew enough of its darker sides to believe this.

"A gas leak can destroy a building in a gulf of flames. Lighting can light up an entire forest. The oceans can roll in terrible waves, tornadoes can rip up entire homes and the earth can see vast areas tremble to the ground. There are too many ninja that throw their lives into emulating that kind of destruction. But there's nothing in the natural world that comes as close to what medic-nin are capable of. They preserve lives that would otherwise perish. They're the true miracle workers of our world."

He sat up properly and reached for his sandals, muffler and jacket laid folded on a piece of cloth at his side. Sakura had ceased looking at him and was instead staring out at the medics going about their duties. She didn't turn her attention back to him until he was getting to his feet.

"No matter what becomes of our world, whether we enter a dark age of war or a golden age of peace, there will never come the time when good medics won't be needed." he looked back at Sakura with a smile. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way now."

For a moment Sakura didn't seem to catch what he said. But as he turned and began to walk a way, she swiftly bowed down. "Take care!"

Yahiko waved as he moved around the other bedrolls in order to leave the tent. He stepped outside and took a good look at the streets under an overcast sky. The shinobi tents were kept around the back of the hospital, so that the general populace wouldn't easily see the injuries their protectors had sustained during the conflict. But there were still plenty of ninja around. Just to be safe, he pulled his muffler up around his mouth. No one would question it with the amount of dust in the air.

He took a walk around the village. He wanted to see for himself the results of the battle that was fought just yesterday. The injured spoke volumes, but there was more to be seen among those that didn't need hospital attention. Countless despondent villagers moved around with wheelbarrows, brooms and other such equipment. Bricks and debris were gathered and taken away for disposal while dust was swept up in piles and into garbage bags. They didn't stop their work even as the first drops of rain started to pour down on them all.

Yahiko stood at a street corner, gazing over them all. So many miserable faces. They must have thought about seeking shelter and waiting for the weather to still. But their homes were destroyed. They had no choice but to continue shouldering the cold rain as they tried to piece back together their lives from the attack on their village.

" _How does it feel?"_

Yahiko grabbed a hold of a nearby signpost as the sudden, malicious thought leapt into his mind. He forced himself to take a long and deep breath. Ever since Kabuto fixed the memories that Danzo had altered, he had found himself struggling to keep his feelings in check. It was like a massive relapse. In an attempt by his brain to correct the errors, he recalled events from so long ago with intense clarity. That included things he had felt when he was much younger and much angrier at the world.

" _If we're gonna "understand" each other, first we gotta make them suffer like we're suffering!"_

After taking a moment to calm down, he looked again at the people around. Some looked his way, at this stranger leaning against a post for support. A man paused in his shovelling of broken bricks to stare at him with concern filled eyes. Yahiko straightened up and began walking down another street. He didn't want anyone trying to take him back to the hospital. If they feared he was suffering from some mental trauma, they might try to detain him. He couldn't put it past Danzo to have an eye there for potential new recruits.

As he thought about the man who ripped him from his old life and tormented him into becoming a willing servant, his stride became more forceful. He gritted his teeth behind his muffler and did his best to keep it from showing on what of his face could be seen. But it was hard. It felt like this damnable clarity was punishing him for the decades of brainwashing he'd submitted to. In that regard, he could hardly blame it.

He stopped in his tracks as he almost ran into someone. A couple of little girls, sisters likely, skittered to a halt from hurrying around a corner. The older one was carrying a small bag of rice in her arms while the smaller one had vegetables. They looked up at him to apologise, but froze in their tracks. Yahiko stared back at them and was about to ask what was wrong when they spluttered their apology and ran off. Confused, Yahiko looked at a nearby window to a dark house. He understood their fear in his reflection. Any child would be afraid of a glower like that.

" _... I need to get somewhere private."_

* * *

There were many families who had enough money to stay at the inns for the time being, but Yahiko managed to track down one with an empty room he could take. He'd found inside his jacket a wallet with the average traveller's money in it, plus a secret compartment with some larger bills just in case. With this he bought a room for the time being... and something else.

Slipping out of his jacket and leaving it on a chair, he walked around the single bed of the reasonably comfortable room to look out the window and into the street. It was a main street inn, which meant it was naturally on the pricier scale of things. This was increased due to him being a lone customer behaving like someone from out of town. It was a hard time to own an inn, though the owners of the ones still standing kept their complaints to themselves.

The rain fell heavier down. The people took their health as priority and sought whatever shelter they had managed to arrange. If not for the few stragglers and the lights coming from the buildings, the street would look like a ghost town. Indeed it was an impressive sight of just how much destruction Orochimaru had managed to bring in the course of a single afternoon. It surprised Yahiko that even he felt the Sandaime Hokage's death sitting heavily on his heart.

" _If there's anything you'd like to discuss, feel free to come and find me."_

He closed the blinds and turned back towards his temporary accommodations. _"Discuss... yeah."_ he thought bitterly as he walked over to the bedside, opening the cabinet and reaching within. There was a glass tumbler inside that he pulled out and placed beside his other purchase. Sake. He screwed off the lid and began to pour into the glass. Not too much. He wasn't trying to get drunk. Just to dull his mind enough that his heart would settle. _"Discuss the size of my Oto uniform I'll bet."_

It was a poorly executed joke. It was obvious what Orochimaru was after. There was only one reason that Yahiko could come up with why the snake would have Kabuto do what he did, justified by the avoidance of any given purpose beforehand. It was the very exact thing that Yahiko wanted to do from the moment his memories came back from him. Something that he had no doubt Orochimaru wanted just as bad.

To kill Danzo.

He took a long drink from the glass of sake. The chilled liquid helped offset the heat he felt inside. The tingling relieved his tense muscles just a little bit. He glared at the space where the wall met the floor, eyes travelling much greater distances into the very veil of time. He remembered every single time that he stood in the same room as Shimura Danzo. Every time he knelt before the man who had ruined his life and asked how he might serve. That old scarred face that would look down at him as if he were nothing more than a well trained dog awaiting instruction on who to sic upon.

He was careful not to shatter the glass in his grip. But anger pulsed through him regardless. He couldn't find the words within him to describe what he was feeling at this very moment. It was a raw, seething mass of throbbing rage pressing against the brittle bars of self restraint. It was the reason he kept cautious watch as he continued to sip from the glass not to ingest too much. He had been granted his freedom by a manipulative sociopath in order to satisfy a shared desire to wipe one man off the face of the earth. If he got caught...

If he got caught...

He put the glass back down on the bedside cabinet and put his head into his hands. His rage mixed with despair as he realised that in among it all was an undeniable twang of fear. The memories he relived of his time being reconditioned had replayed in his mind so vividly this day that he was sure they were not the mere workings of a brain trying to correct itself. More like the guiding hand of a certain medic-nin that wanted to push his patient in the right direction. Unfortunately it worked a little too well.

In his mind he could see every single day of him slowly breaking. The room dissolved around him until it was like he was really there in the past. He felt it all, all over again. The moment where his resolve completely shattered under the looping of that video tape. This time with his present voice pleading for him not to believe the lies.

Somewhere in the hallway a door slammed shut. Yahiko jolted out of his stupor and looked to the door to his room. He settled as he heard what sounded like drunken shambling in the hallway. Looking at the half drunk glass of sake, he decided that he wasn't going to risk any more. He picked up the glass and walked into the bathroom. Turning on the tap as he poured the rest of the sake down the drain, he set the glass aside and stooped down to wash his face.

" _Just calm down."_ the side effects of Kabuto's procedure were more difficult to deal with than he imagined. It was just like a dam had broken down and the hectic torrent of emotions were storming through him, uncontrolled. He looked into the bathroom mirror. This was the first time he'd been able to take his time and examine himself without keeping in mind a nurse waiting just outside. His heart quivered just a little. _"I've gotten so old."_

He took a step back and sat against the radiator while still looking upon himself. Now that he gave it some clearer thought, he felt he understood why his mental state was so volatile at the moment. He wasn't just reliving decades of mental reconfiguration and servitude. There was something else he was feeling that came to him in such great force he could hardly bear it. For the past twenty or so years he had been completely alone. Only now was he finally able to experience what that felt like.

He closed his eyes and forced his breathing to steady as he began to feel something well up inside that he didn't want to let out. But though he could fight against the vulnerability of his heart, he couldn't keep the thoughts from coming. He missed them. He wished they were here with him now. Kabuto may have manipulated his mind to make him remember the horrors of the second half of his life. But no manipulation was necessary for him to see their faces so clearly in his head right at this very moment.

A glimmer of light showed on his face as something occurred to him. He stepped out of the bathroom and walked back to the window. Jiraiya-sensei. He was in the village last Yahiko heard. If he could find him-

He stopped just as he was about to split a pair of the blinds to look outside. What was he thinking? At a time like this there wasn't a single ninja in the entire village who would have the people's eye more than the biggest living legend in the village. Even if Yahiko could track him down, there would be no more straightforward a way of announcing that he was still alive other than going on a rampage or walking up to Danzo in person. If Danzo suspected even a shred of what was really going on, there was no way he wouldn't have eyes and ears on Jiraiya. He knew of Yahiko's affiliation with him from the months of forceful probing.

" _And anyway."_ he sat again down on the bed. _"Never once since leaving did Jiraiya-sensei ever return for so much as a visit. Who's to say that he even thinks of us?"_

Taking off his sandals and laying down on the bed, he stared up at the beige ceiling and tried to think of something productive. What was happening right now within the village? Envoys from Suna were having intense discussions with the higher ups in the village in a bid to assure Konoha of the trickery that explained their participation in the assault. With the Torture and Interrogation Headquarters out of commission by Yahiko's own hand, questioning of any Oto captives was bound to have become a less organised affair. He wondered just how many had already slipped through the cracks and into Danzo's clutches.

The arrangement of the Sandaime Hokage's funeral were bound to be close to complete. Yahiko had asked himself long and hard if he wanted to be there, even though he knew there was no way he could get close to the place. It would be his easiest chance to meet with Jiraiya, but for the same reasons it was not a good call. In the end, the answer was no. There wasn't a part of him that wanted to send off the deceased Hokage. He had lived far too long in the darkness of Konoha, saw how much of what really kept the village afloat to ever delude himself as to Sarutobi Hiruzen's nature. The man had either been a naïve fool blind to what was going on beneath the surface of the village he supposedly controlled, or he wilfully ignored all of Danzo's cruel deeds while preaching his village as one that sought unity with the world. Either way, Yahiko found the Sandaime worthy of none of his respect.

That said, the funeral would be the best time for Yahiko to actively work towards whatever objective he wanted to make his first priority. Though the very grain of his soul hated knowing that Danzo was still living, breathing and continuing corrupt work, he had calmed enough to admit that killing him was in no way a simple task. He had the entirety of Root at his command, a hoard of secrets and forbidden knowledge the likes that Yahiko barely scratched the surface of, and most of all he was a figure of respect. Yahiko had never been a true citizen of the village. He would be ousted immediately as a spy if he tried anything overt. Given current events and his identity as a private man, he could think of no one who would stand on his side. Perhaps not even Jiraiya.

" _I could probably steal whatever tools and weapons I needed from the armoury."_ even as a symbol of his time with Root, he felt uncomfortably naked without his tanto. He couldn't requisition any equipment masquerading as another active shinobi without proper identification. So unless he wanted to try and pick a fellow ninja's pocket, breaking and entering would be his only choice. _"But I need a plan first. I could only risk breaking into the armoury once."_

There was one major decision that he had to make before any other, he realised. It was whether he wanted to take advantage of current circumstances within the village to make his move, or wait for things to blow over before he began taking action. In order to do that he had to weigh the risks. Mobilizing now would give him a lot more freedom. Without a true leader the village was disjointed. Command over village affairs would be falling under the Sandaime's advisers while matters of military would be presided over by the Jonin Commander; Nara Shikaku. Active shinobi forces would be split up between border watch, village repair and preservation of economic stability. They had to convince the people who hired Konoha ninja on a regular basis that they were still capable of doing their work.

The downside was that everyone's guard was up. They would be waiting and watching for any follow up attack from any enemy. During his stint in the hospital he had caught mutterings from older villagers of suspicion that Iwa or Kumo might try to take advantage of the village's current state to make power plays against the neighbouring nations currently in alliance with Konoha. No doubt Danzo would be hard at work making sure such plays failed to come to pass by whatever means necessary. It was entirely possible the man wasn't even in the village right now.

After all, he was present in Ame when he ordered his men to attack Akatsuki's base.

" _Focus."_

There was too much disorder in the village right now for Yahiko to move with any certainty. He could perform every single step flawlessly, but it could all fall apart because one aspect he couldn't predict interfered. It would simply be too reckless to act now with whatever plan he could form before things settled down. But that wasn't the only reason he was hesitant to act quickly. A thought was beginning to occur to him.

" _Shimura Danzo is a despicable man that will crush anything he interprets as having even the slightest degree of a threat against Konoha's position as a superpower."_ though disgusted by it, he understood Danzo's motive for attacking Akatsuki. That man staunchly treated the concept of peace as a pestilence that harmed the strength the village needed to survive in a bloody world. _"The things he does are if nothing else relevant to the village's current position. If he were to disappear, enemies would crawl out of the woodwork seeking revenge on a village that never knew the pain it caused."_

The more he thought about it, the more he saw the helping hand of Orochimaru towards him as a gnarled, twisted claw. Konoha, with no one to do the dark deeds in secret, would be like a stunned child learning that the food on their plates and the clothes on their backs were paid for by money their father earned through criminal deeds. Worse still they would be forced to choose to either live with the consequences of their father's actions, or pick up where he left off in order to survive.

Relinquish themselves or embrace the darkness. There was no truer way of destroying this village of peace and unity that Yahiko could think of. Unless...

He closed his eyes. There was a truth to be acknowledged in among all the confusion. Danzo's current value to the village had always been predicated on the Sandaime's blind moral code that saw him allow so many tragedies to befall the village and even the world for the sake of preserving his own notions of what was right and true. Yesterday those very values were brought to stand as a man that Hiruzen hadn't the strength of will to kill returned and wrought havoc upon the village. It seemed likely to Yahiko that whoever would take Sarutobi Hiruzen's place would not be quite so naïve.

It was settled then. He would wait until the next Hokage was selected. Then he would begin to make his move to give Danzo his due demise. With that decided, Yahiko turned on his side and began to rest.

* * *

It was the next day. Growing tired of staring at empty walls, Yahiko took to the streets with his muffler pulled up over his mouth again to hide his face. He was thinking much more clearly now that he'd slept on things. He still had to keep himself under careful check so not to get caught glaring randomly, but today he was largely ignored. The people had other matters on their mind. Such as the funeral for the Sandaime that had taken place mere hours before.

Word on the street was that the ceremony was commendable. There had been a procession for the shinobi early in the morning and now the civilians were being given their time to say their farewells to their beloved leader. Naturally the news of village affairs were on the lips of everyone. They wondered what would become of Suna's place in its alliance with Konoha. Of Otogakure to the north and to River Country that allowed Suna's forces to move through its territory without so much as a word sent Konoha's way.

Tired of the ceaseless chatter and hungry for a cooked meal, Yahiko searched for a quiet diner from which to order something. A yakimono restaurant near the canal looked like the very place. After living the Root diet of meeting one's basic nutritional needs and nothing more for close to twenty years, chowing down to something heavy and fried sounded too much like a good thing for this weak willed human to resist.

After a time the waitress brought him a plate of beef teriyaki with some green tea. The smell of it made his stomach growl like a ravenous dog trying to scare away any potential scavengers. He dug in almost gracelessly, pausing to blow on the first bite before accidentally burning his mouth.

He gave out a deep sigh as the flavour and scent of the grilled beef filled his being. This was it. This was just the thing he needed at a time like this. Pure bliss without any worries. He almost lowered his guard too much as he spotted ninja walking on by. Hastily he sipped from his tea to hide his face, but it was no one he recognised and therefore no one who would likely recognise him. Still, he was more careful after that first sighting.

The rain had cleared up. He was glad to see it. Despite the mood of the villagers it felt like things were beginning to brighten up just a touch after a day of complete misery. Was it selfish to want his first real day of freedom to be like this?

" _Well, the key to enjoying something is to not over think it."_ he told himself as he continued to eat. He made his way through half of the dish in no time at all. For the second half he slowed down. His initial hunger was sated. He could take his time and smell the roses. With his cup in hand he took a long and sip and watched the passers by. An odd duo in oversized cloaks and sedge hats walked into a sweet shop across the road. Yahiko resisted the urge to shake his head. _"Some people take self expression a step too-"_

Wait. He looked again at the pair taking seat in the shop across from him. The taller of the two removed a large bandaged mass that Yahiko had let slip in a passing glance before. It warranted a closer look however. From the top of it a golden hilt ended in a small skull pommel. For some reason the shape of it seemed familiar to him, as if he'd seen it somewhere before. He wanted to say in a bingo book, but that was absurd. A missing-nin couldn't get into the village without setting off alarms. Not unless he was originally from the village and knew the secret paths like Orochimaru.

This time he did shake his head. It was probably just a coincidence. The two looked like attention seekers with their red clouds on black cloak. Probably they saw the same bingo book entry that Yahiko did and wanted to cause a fuss. Though that would mean...

Yahiko stopped eating and gave a small sigh. He couldn't pretend not to notice it. Even if he could go along with the idea of a pair of posers, no ninja in Konoha would do something that outrageous at a time like this. Yet no one other than a ninja or bounty hunters should have any kind of access to bingo books. As surreptitiously as he could manage, he drank more of his tea as an excuse to look again at the two. Immediately he stiffened.

The one with the giant object had his back to him. But the other was looking directly at Yahiko. Beneath the brim of his sedge hat and above the collar of his cloak, he saw red eyes with black markings around the pupil. Yahiko knew of only four people in the entire world that had eyes like that. One was much too young. The second had only one such eye. The third never showed his face. Which left only the fourth. Uchiha Itachi.

Quickly Yahiko looked away. It was easy to pretend he was just some civilian discomforted by being stared at by such strange eyes. His thoughts however were moving a mile a minute as questions coursed through him. What was Itachi doing back in the village after all this time? He was an S-rank criminal present during a time when security was at its most alert. Was he _trying_ to be seen?

Matters worsened as in his peripherals he saw the other man with Itachi turn his head to look his way. Yahiko didn't look directly, but the tincture of blue skin was the last detail he needed to connect the dots of this second man's identity. Hoshigake Kisame; the Monster of Kirigakure. Another S-class criminal. What in the world was going on?

Just as Yahiko was beginning to worry that somehow they had fingered him as not quite a civilian, they averted their gaze to the cups the waitress of that shop brought to them. Yahiko thought to use that opportunity to break away before those two could get any ideas, but right then another shinobi he recognised appeared before him. Hatake Kakashi, of all people, rested against the sign of the shop nonchalantly. It was absurd to think that the Copycat Ninja was standing beside two of the most dangerous criminals in the world. That was until Yahiko noticed Kakashi look towards the two from the corner of his eye. It was no coincidence that Kakashi stopped there.

" _Is he with them?"_ after what he experienced with Kabuto, nothing was beyond the realms of possibility to Yahiko. And yet he doubted it. There was something about the way Itachi and Kisame sat hunched at their table at Kakashi's presence as if trying to pretend they didn't know he was watching them.

Things became busier still then as Kakashi straightened up and looked down the street. "Hey you two. You guys look good together. Are you on a date?"

Two more ninja entered Yahiko's line of sight. One he recognised as Sarutobi Asuma, son of the late Hokage. The other, a kunoichi, he didn't recognise. "Idiot!" she blustered. "I was just picking up something for a friend when we walked into each other! That's all!"

"What about you?" Asuma glanced a smile at the kunoichi, but he was speaking to Kakashi. "I didn't figure you for a sweet tooth."

"Well, I'm not really. I'm just here waiting for someone." Kakashi directed his eye towards the two in the store behind him. "Sasuke should be here any minute now."

This was insane. Yahiko felt like he was going to get an ulcer just sitting here watching. Uchiha Itachi, the one responsible for the obliteration of almost every last member of his clan, was mere feet away from where his younger brother was supposed to be. Add in Kisame, Kakashi and Asuma to the mix and the conclusion was clear. There was going to be a bloodbath in the streets at this rate.

" _Should I do something?"_ it would risk blowing his cover, but if the stories he'd heard about the two missing-nin in front of him were in any way true, those three were going to need all the help they could get. But on the other hand, just being near this mess of a situation was a danger to his efforts of keeping himself secret. Even so, he couldn't just sit here and do nothing.

"Kakashi!"

A young voice caught Yahiko's attention. He tensed up as he saw the second member of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's team he'd been ordered to memorise the name and face of. Uchiha Sasuke approached his sensei. Yahiko swiftly looked back into the shop across the street. To his surprise, there was no sign of Itachi and Kisame. They had gotten away so quickly.

"It's not like you to be the first one to arrive." Sasuke remarked. He glanced past Kakashi into the empty shop with but two barely touched cups sitting upon the now absent table.

Kakashi looked at Asuma and the kunoichi. They nodded to him and disappeared. Yahiko understood what was happening. He reached into his wallet and left some money on the table. He slipped out through the back.

He would at least wait and see if they needed his help.

* * *

" _Damn it!"_ Yahiko cursed himself. Just as he'd started following after Asuma and the kunoichi, he spotted Kakashi running along the rooftops. Forced to hide and take his movements more slowly, he lost their tracks for a while. For a time he thought he had totally lost them. Then he heard the sound of an explosion off by the canal. With all haste he rushed in that direction. Along the waterside he saw them. The five of them standing atop the water, clearly in the middle of a fight. There was an unoccupied boat rocking gently from the force of the waters moving its way. He jumped in and crouched behind the bulkhead. Just in time to hear Kakashi's voice.

"Both of you close your eyes!" he exclaimed. "Whatever you do, don't look at his Sharingan. The moment you do, it's all over!"

Not sure of what that meant, Yahiko took the precaution of dropping behind the bulkhead and closing his eyes for safe measure. The Sharingan. A dojutsu with which the user can create wicked genjutsu by mere eye contact. He felt confident that nobody knew he was here, but he knew better than to understimate Uchiha Itachi. Even to this day word of his prowess saw all who learned of him advised that should they cross paths, they should immediately run. Yahiko was trained intensively in blind combat, but none were more skilled at that art than those from Kiri. Just like Kisame over there. Even if he tried to fight blind, he was willing to bet his ears wouldn't hear either of their movements.

" _There's no shortage of supply for my Suiton jutsu, but Kisame is infamous for his affinity with water and who knows what Itachi has picked up with his Sharingan if he's been hanging around him for a while?"_ the other option was Raiton, which he could easily conduct through the water. But not without endangering those three, and certainly not without his insulated Root armour. The best he could do was wait for an opportunity and spring in, supporting the other three by whichever means he could.

His ears pricked as he heard a new voice. One that by the sound of things belonged to Itachi.

"Certainly it's possible that with you could offer some resistance. But my Mangekyou Sharingan has a certain special technique. It's name is Tsukiyomi. It is an illusion that cannot be stopped by anyone outside of my own bloodline."

Yahiko frowned. That was a lot of words to explain something that didn't need to be said. Was that supposed to be an intimidation tactic, or was Itachi just bragging?

Several seconds of silence passed. Yahiko was beginning to realise that if Itachi and Kakashi were fighting a battle of ocular genjutsu, there would be no way for him to help sitting here not even looking. Just as he thought this, he heard the kunoichi shouting out.

"What's wrong Kakashi?! Did something happen?!"

"You still with us?" followed up Asuma.

Unable to contain himself, Yahiko looked over the edge. Last he checked, Kakashi was standing alert. Now he was on his knees, looking like he was barely holding on to consciousness. Yahiko swallowed a lump in his throat. What the hell had just happened?

"That's impressive." Kisame remarked with a grin. "Usually victims of the Tsukiyomi are left completely catatonic. Still, careful Itachi. You were the one just saying that we didn't come here to injure ourselves."

" _The Tsukiyomi bears a price on those who use it."_ without thinking Yahiko's training kicked in as he logged away a piece of information.

Kakashi was breathing heavily, but it seemed he still had it in him to speak. "You're after Sasuke, aren't you?"

Yahiko bit his lip. No. They couldn't be. If Sasuke was the one they were after, they wouldn't have run off the second Itachi's younger brother appeared. They would have fought right there in the street. Cause enough chaos to force Kakashi and the other two to prioritise protecting civilians and grab Sasuke the moment they had the opportunity. If that was their goal, they would have to finish this fight and then go searching for Sasuke before anyone else discovered what was going on.

Itachi confirmed Yahiko's thoughts. "No... we're after the Yondaime's lineage."

The Yondaime's lineage. Yahiko knew plenty enough who that was. The sole heir of the deceased Yondaime and his wife. The bearer of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Uzumaki Naruto. It made sense. There was no better time to make the grab with the village in shambles as it was. And the Sharingan was the perfect tool with which to do it. All Itachi would need to do was look the boy in the eye and that would be the end of it. _"But why? What could they want with the Kyuubi?"_

"Your target is... the Kyuubi inside Naruto, isn't it?" Kakashi panted his question. He leered at Itachi. "I guess you've finally begun to make your move, haven't you?"

Again Yahiko felt severely out of the loop. It looked like Kakashi knew something he didn't. But what?

"You think we didn't know? The name of your organisation-"

" _Organisation?"_

"-is Akatsuki, isn't it?"

Everything stopped. Time. Sound. All of it. Yahiko stared. Kakashi's voice rang in his mind. Akatsuki. Akatsuki. Akatsuki. ...Why? Why would Kakashi say that name? Why would he _know_ that name? And why was he implying that Itachi had anything to do with them? What was the meaning of this?

He didn't realise it, but he was on his feet. Standing in that boat, staring openly out at the lot of them. He watched dumbly as Itachi said something, but he didn't hear it. He saw Kisame dash forward with his weapon drawn, but he didn't take it in. A flash of green and an explosion of water couldn't break him from his stupor.

Why in the world was he hearing Akatsuki's name in a situation like this?

While he stood there in a daze the world around him continued to move. Bits and pieces of speech caught his ears until enough important words caught his attention that he stirred. Someone new on the scene had just mentioned something about reinforcements being on the way. It looked like the fight was just about to pick up again when another word from Itachi stayed Kisame's blade. The two exchanged quiet words, and then all of a sudden they disappeared.

The boat rocked. Yahiko snapped out of his trance as a shadow to his right caught his attention. He turned in time to see Itachi stepping on the bulkhead of the boat he had been hiding on. Their eyes met for just an instant before he vanished again. And right after him was Kisame, looking at Yahiko with a wide spread grin. And just like that, the two were gone.

Several long seconds passed. He almost didn't notice the four ninja climbing onto the pier off to his left. One of the ninja, the newest one that Yahiko now recognised as Maito Gai, called out to him.

"Are you alright sir?" Gai's voice was loud, but serious. Behind him the kunoichi and Asuma were supporting a barely conscious Kakashi. "You didn't get caught up in any of that, did you?"

Vaguely Yahiko shook his head. Then he did so again properly. "Oh, no." he realised his situation and quickly followed up. "Sorry, I give you my word I won't speak of anything I saw here!"

Gai nodded fiercely, putting on a toothy grin. "Good man!"

He darted off with that, with the other two following him. It might have been his imagination, but when Yahiko looked at Kakashi he thought he saw Kakashi staring back at him. But before he could confirm it the other two had taken him away, leaving Yahiko alone atop that boat.

When no one was around to watch, he fell to his knees. He hung over the edge of the bulkhead and stared into the shifting waters. He had no idea how long he stayed there.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three – Reunion**

Yahiko stood in line at a small camping store in the main street. He held in a tight grasp the basic supplies for travelling through the wilderness. Backpack, sleeping bag, canteen, preserved food, all the straightforward stuff. It took a great deal of willpower not to show his feelings on his face, though he felt like people were particularly aware of him anyway. He tightened his grip on his wallet, as if it would somehow speed the line up. But he didn't rush anyone. The other customers didn't look like they were buying camping gear for a vacation.

He could still feel the light rocking of the boat beneath his feet. It wasn't long since he left the canal. He'd made sure to disappear before those reinforcements Gai mentioned showed up, though he was sure that had just been a bluff to try and convince those two to surrender. Yahiko had been headed back to his inn room when he spotted the camping store along the way. Without much thought, he walked into it and grabbed the items he was currently holding on to.

The scene kept playing over and over in his mind. He wanted to convince himself that he had misheard Kakashi, or that perhaps it was another Akatsuki altogether. Sadly, he hadn't been that naïve since he was a child during the Second Shinobi World War. There was no sense trying to rationalise an explanation. He was by all accounts a free and able man with no obligations to anyone. Therefore he had no reason not to investigate the situation himself.

"Damn... Ero... Sennin!"

Yahiko's gaze flicked over to the entrance of the store. There he was transfixed by the sight of a boy he'd never laid his own eyes upon, yet recognised at a glance. Uzumaki Naruto struggled his way through the street, dragging behind him an absurdly large backpack full to the brim with heavens knew what. Plenty of people hesitated looking at him, but most hurried on their way, pretending they hadn't seen anything. Yahiko didn't have any such luxury.

" _Why the hell does it look like he's packing to leave on a long trip?"_ He had not even a half hour ago watched as the boy's jonin instructor was dragged away, completely unable to move of his own accord. Kakashi had been assigned to Naruto for the reason that his Sharingan could keep the Kyuubi at bay if something dangerous should go down. Who in their right minds would send Naruto away without that safety net? _"Wait... Ero-Sennin?"_

A perverted sage. A look of understanding dawned on Yahiko's face. There was only one man he knew of renowned as a sage and who bore definite perverted tendencies. The very same man that taught the Yondaime Hokage whom had been mentioned not too long ago, whose legacy had just passed by.

" _Jiraiya-sensei... he must be at the gates!"_

"Um, excuse me sir?"

Yahiko stared blankly. He hadn't realised he had reached the front of the line. Hastily he set his items atop the counter and opened up his wallet. The clerk rang each item through while Yahiko bundled them all together. "Keep the change!" he said when the clerk was done, dropping notes on the desk. He swung the backpack over his shoulder and hurried out into the street.

Down one direction, he saw Naruto dragging his oversized backpack. The track of the disturbed ground travelled all the way in the direction of the southern gates. His first instinct was to hurry. But he thought about it. Aside from the fact that rushing out the store like he just did and running down the street would draw unwanted attention, the implications of what he just heard suggested that Jiraiya would be waiting for Naruto. Who as he just saw was likely not to be returning to the gates in the next few minutes.

Yahiko calmed himself as best he could and took his time with the walk. He kept his head low and his muffler raised over his mouth as he travelled down the main street. _"Process. The Akatsuki that Kakashi mentioned appears to be a criminal organisation. Whether it's my Akatsuki or another is conjecture until further evidence can be acquired."_ It was difficult to think about, but he wasn't a child. It had been a long time since last he heard anything of his old group. There was no telling what could have gone on in his absence. A part of him hoped that his trusted comrades had for whatever reason left the group and that Akatsuki was the same organisation in name only. Still, the thought of the circumstances that might lead to that outcome didn't bring any comfort to him.

He gave pause. Or rather, he stopped in his tracks. The moment he realised he did, he turned to face a magazine stand, pretending to search for some reading material for his journey. _"Kakashi has been heading a Genin squad the past several months. Judging by the way things looked back there, that was his first meeting with this current Akatsuki. Yet somehow he already knew about the group. Meaning word passed down the grapevine towards him; the protector of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."_ He began to stare holes into a fishing magazine. _"If he knows about Akatsuki... what about Jiraiya-sensei?"_

The stand owner was staring at Yahiko uncomfortably. Realising he was losing control of his expression again, he turned and carried on his way down the street. He was thinking far too much for his own good. _"The ninja that operates only by what he thinks he knows has already dug the first hole in his grave."_ That teaching was not one of Danzo's. It was one that Jiraiya had imparted upon him so long ago, back in that hut in Ame. _"People who only trust their instincts often die to an average tactician. Trust them only when necessary. Until then, take your time and gather as much information as you can."_

Now of all times when Yahiko had so little in his world that was concrete, it brought him peace to have at least this teaching to centre him. He resolved himself to concentrate on the here and now instead of getting caught up in ceaseless conjecture. He thought only of the wise old man that was very likely standing at that gate just a turn and a few hundred yards away. As much as he wanted to pretend he was totally level headed, his step was quick and determined. The thought of seeing that mane of white hair overtook his sense of caution. He made the turn and looked through the crowd.

His breath caught in his throat. There he was. Jiraiya; the Toad Sage.

Yahiko stood still a mere two hundred yards from the man who had taken him from an orphaned brat stealing and begging for his next meal and turned him into a young man with a purpose. So much time had passed. Jiraiya was no longer a soldier wearing Konoha battle armour. Like Yahiko, time had passed for him too and created an older man that dressed in a style befitting his legacy. Jiraiya stood there with his arms crossed, glancing with a smile on his face whenever a pretty woman walked on by. Not everything had changed, thankfully.

" _Just walk up to him. He might not even recognise you."_ His hand holding the strap of his backpack tightened. A nervous smile played across his face. _"Just imagine the look on his face when he realises who you are."_

Despite his attempts to psyche himself up, he hesitated. The what ifs were getting to him again. It was then that he was surprised by a flash of orange passing him by. Uzumaki Naruto ran on by with a much more reasonably sized backpack. Yahiko followed the young ninja's back with his eyes until he and Jiraiya were, from his visual perspective, a mere inch apart. He watched Jiraiya take on an impatient look as he spotted his travelling companion. When Naruto reached Jiraiya, the two of them had a brief exchange. At first Jiraiya looked stern, but there was an excitement about Naruto's retort that made the old man smirk. The two of them set out through the gates.

For some reason, Yahiko's heart felt heavy.

He continued walking.

* * *

The road from Konoha stretched for a good long while before it reached its first junction. As such, for the time being Yahiko had little choice but to walk with Jiraiya and Naruto constantly in his line of sight. Jiraiya moved at a comfortable pace while Naruto skittered around excitedly, making wild gestures that looked vaguely combative. It was pretty clear what the young ninja was looking to get out of Jiraiya. Probably some cool new jutsu he could show off to his friends. He looked so easygoing.

" _Please, teach us ninjutsu!"_

" _... Don't be petty."_ he told himself, shouldering his pack into a more comfortable position. He put a hand to his face as he heard a buzzing sound around his ear. He swatted away an impetuous fly. As he looked around to see if it was gone, his mind wandered. His stomach fluttered a little. It had just hit him that he was outside the village walls. For the first time in around twenty years he was out in the wide world all on his own without a leash dragging him back to Konoha. He turned his head and looked back. Already the tree line had completely obscured the place he... no, he'd never called it home. But something equivocal.

Now he was really free. Outside of Danzo's sphere of influence, with no fear of running into his "comrades" in a dark alley. He no longer had a reason to constantly watch his back. If Danzo was aware of his continued living, he would have absolutely acted on it by now.

Danzo... not much had changed since Yahiko had resolved to end that monster's life. He still felt a strong desire to see Danzo dead at his feet. It was hatred. Pure and simple. But it didn't bind Yahiko to the village. Even though every step he took was a step that would make killing Danzo all the more difficult, there were just things that Yahiko wanted more. Like to find out what had become of his old friends. His worry for them outclassed his hatred. It levelled his head. In an uncomfortable way, he was glad of it. Too many people lost their way chasing revenge.

" _One day. But not before what really matters."_

He carried on walking, trying not to pay too much heed to the two up ahead of him. He was still working on that evasive shred of courage to call out to his old teacher. Right up until the point where he knew he'd have to make a decision. There it was. The fork in the road he'd known had been coming. Down one path, Jiraiya and Naruto continued to walk on completely ignorant to the straggler that had been meandering just a couple hundred feet behind them. And down the other, the road to his destination.

It didn't take him long to come to a decision. Itachi and Kisame were hunting Naruto. The question of whether or not Jiraiya could handle those two wasn't a part of the equation. If they attacked, Yahiko wasn't going to allow his old teacher to fight two people carrying the name of his old group alone. If the Jinchuuriki's well being wasn't in question, he could have said that it was more his problem than anyone else's.

He made the turn to follow the two, and resolved himself to meet with Jiraiya when they made it to town. There at least they probably wouldn't have to worry about an ambush. If he saw things correctly, the current Akatsuki held its secrecy with great importance. They would be cautious around prying eyes. It would definitely be the best time for him to reintroduce himself to Jiraiya.

" _... Grow a pair damn it!"_ he chided himself as his nerves set in again.

* * *

The first rest stop wasn't too far out. In fact they appeared to be stopping at the very first town on the road. It made sense, in a sad way. The Hokage's funeral had just been that very morning. Jiraiya was bound to want to take it easy at least today. Still, Yahiko was a little aghast at just how easily his old teacher appeared to be taking things.

He stood in the shade of an alley, watching Naruto and Jiraiya have an exchange in the reception room of an inn. That was when their attention was diverted by a woman walking down the street. A lady in an evening dress made up for a night on the town, by the look of things. Even the kid was gawking at her as she flashed a wink their way. Yahiko gawked himself as he saw Jiraiya promptly put a room key in Naruto's hand and shoo him away.

" _You're kidding, sensei!"_ did Jiraiya really not know about the current danger with Itachi and Kisame around? Hadn't he taken Naruto out of the village in order to hide him from those two? Yet there he wandered off after the woman, like a dog chasing a ball. Yahiko was torn. By the look of things Jiraiya wasn't even prepared for the possibility of enemies showing up at this time. Yahiko watched him disappear down the street. He started to move after him, but he gave pause. If Itachi and Kisame were on the hunt, wouldn't this be close to the perfect time to make their move?

" _What am I thinking? So what? I should watch over the Jinchuuriki and take on those two on my own?"_ No, it was definitely a ridiculous prospect. He set out into the street and began to search for where Jiraiya had gone. Yet to his surprise the older ninja was already gone from his sight. _"Damn it. I have to find him before something happens!"_

He thought to slip back into the alley and jump up to the rooftops to ease his search for Jiraiya, but a quick scan of the surroundings made him second guess it. This wasn't Konoha, with its ecological architecture upon labyrinthine streets. There was just no way of tracking someone from above without drawing attention to himself in these shorter buildings. But tracking Jiraiya from the street level would take too much time. Time that would leave the Jinchuuriki vulnerable.

He tried to ignore the thought of what the likes of Itachi and Kisame might have planned for Naruto. Alas it was futile. Though he doubted the same outcome would occur, he could not help recalling his own kidnapping and everything he went through in the reprogramming to become a Root ninja. The key difference here was that Itachi and Kisame didn't have to worry about hiding their operations within one of the most powerful and resourceful ninja villages in the world. Maybe it was just paranoia, but Yahiko was worried for the boy.

" _Damn!"_ he cursed to himself. Tossing his concerns aside, he began to form a game plan as he walked into the inn Naruto was staying at. The receptionist greeted him politely. _"If they show up, the primary goal is to slow them down while the boy runs off to Jiraiya. All I have to do is keep them busy. My advantages are their need for secrecy and my personal knowledge of Akatsuki. If nothing else, I can bluff them."_

Getting a room wasn't difficult. Apparently there was a festival happening soon in Tanzaku town that saw all kinds of traffic coming through the inn. As such the receptionist didn't pay Yahiko much heed when he asked for a place to stay. While the receptionist turned to fetch his key, Yahiko stole a quick look at the ledger and saw to his partial relief that he would be staying in the room across from the one Jiraiya had paid for. He couldn't ask for a better spot to sit and wait for trouble.

He stood in his room and took in what was available to him. Two beds. He'd lied about having a companion in order to increase his odds of getting a room near Jiraiya's. Unfortunately there was no viewer on the door. Keeping watch of the room opposite was going to be a dangerous feat if something were to happen. Quickly he checked the bathroom to see what utilities were available. Toilet, shower, sink, basic amenities. This place was no five star resort. But it was enough. Yahiko began grabbing things and dropping them into the sink.

This was one of the more vital parts of his training as an assassin. How to make the most of the tools around you so to better preserve your chakra for more urgent scenarios. It begrudged him to call upon it but the need was there. He had bleach, liquid soap, shampoo, cheap shaving equipment, surface cleanser and a toilet brush. Staring down at the mess of miscellaneous toiletries, he gave a curt nod.

" _I can make a bomb out of this."_

He hung his head. This was no time for jokes. With a faint pinch of disgust he picked up the brush. It looked clean, but who knew with these things? Still, the body of it was steel. Not good steel by any means, but enough that he could work with it. With a wad of paper he unscrewed the brush and dropped it where it belonged, leaving him with a flimsy metal rod.

A short series of seals and a bit of concentration saw the tip of Yahiko's finger become the source of a concentrated, crackling blue light. Patiently he drew a straight line from the handle of the brush up to the very end, cutting the metal. The process heated the edges, making them easy to reshape by banging them firmly against the edge of the medicine cabinet. A minute of concentrated effort saw the two cut edges meeting again in a straighter form. A minute more had the whole thing resembling a poorly made, dull blade. That was fine. The blunt edge would be a focal point for lightning chakra that would cut well enough.

So he had a weapon, rudimentary as it was. It didn't improve his chances by much, but it was better than protecting himself with his bare hands. He turned to the rest of the sink's contents. The main component of it all that had his attention was the bleach. It had the most potential to be useful. But it also had the most risk. He could use a water jutsu to vaporise the liquid into a toxic mist, but that was more a trick for civilian-tier targets and common thugs. Not S-rank shinobi. He looked among the other items. If there was ammonia, he could rig the bleach into an explos-

A knock. Not his door. He barely heard it, but it was unmistakable. He resisted the urge to swear as he grabbed his toilet brush blade. Without a sound he traced his way through the inn room towards the door. Cursing again the lack of a viewer, he lowered himself to the floor and attempted to peer under the door. Unfortunately the gap wasn't big enough to see anything. When he heard the door opposite his room open, his ears pricked. For a moment there was gut wrenching silence. And then...

"Ho ho... is this child really the one we're looking for?"

Yahiko sprang to his feet. That was Kisame's voice. He stared at the door and with his mind's eye he placed the missing-nin's body with the location of the voice. His hand tightened on the hilt of his makeshift blade. The time he had feared had come. But he hesitated to move. Kisame was one of them. What he really needed right now was-

"Naruto-kun. You're coming with us."

And there was Itachi. Yahiko was able to place them both. Itachi to the left, Kisame to the right. He tightened his hold on his weapon. They had come sooner than he expected. He hadn't had time to properly form a plan of action. Two versus one on any occasion was dangerous...

He had an idea. He took several, careful steps back and, trying hard not to think about it, he held the handle of the toilet brush blade between his teeth. Quickly he threw his hands together in a series of seals and began charging lighting chakra. Grasping the weapon again, he carefully coursed the chakra into the blade while doing his best to mitigate sound. Unfortunately Raiton jutsu was the absolute worst for assassination. Due to its inherent instability the noisy by-product was difficult to control. Especially for the intended purposes. If not for his specialist training, he was sure to have failed in that regard.

"It's time we got started."

Yahiko thanked the gods of fortune. The noise from his weapon was close enough to him that he wouldn't have heard any footsteps. But a voice he could still catch. What was more, by the sound of things Kisame was shifting around. He stood between where last Itachi was heard and Yahiko's door. It was too good an opportunity to waste. He drew his hand back, adjusted his hold on his lightning blade and with swift force he threw it right at the height where Itachi's head would be.

The blade flew with immense speed, burning through the wooden door without slowing in the slightest. Letting not a second slip by Yahiko whipped the door open and prepared to dash for Naruto on the other side.

He stopped, not making it more than a half step out of his room. In the wall inside Naruto's inn room, his blade stuck as the last of the lightning chakra died away. Its passage between Yahiko's hand and its current resting place was clear, yet Yahiko's aim had been true. Kisame stood there with most of his back to Yahiko, swayed to the left to avoid the blade. His hand was upon Itachi's head, pushing his partner slightly to the side to protect him too from the attack. In front of the two of them Naruto sat on his rear, paralysed from the sudden turn of events and staring wildly at Yahiko.

Kisame's head turned ever so slightly, yet enough to allow Yahiko to see the corner of his eye and the curve of his monstrous grin. "Your eyes might be exceptional, but aren't you glad of my ears, Itachi-san?" He looked at Yahiko, but his eye flickered just a touch. His grin twitched and he dropped his arm. "Perhaps I shouldn't waste my compassion next time."

"Not at all."

Yahiko's breath caught in his chest. Itachi disappeared in a puff of smoke. The gaze of Kisame and the shocked stare of Naruto told Yahiko the same thing as his own ears. Somehow, some way, Itachi was standing inside his inn room, no doubt staring at his back. _"How?"_ there was no room for Itachi to get past him unnoticed even with the greatest of speed. Despite lightning crackling in his ears, he would have heard his window opening. It was almost as if Itachi had been there all along and Yahiko had simply failed to notice.

"Let's step out into the hallway." he heard Itachi make a single step of approach. Inside he deflated for just a second. But he steeled himself the very next. This was what he had set himself up for. Giving in at the first sign of trouble was not the kind of man he was. For the moment he complied and left his room. He stood aside from Kisame and turned to face the lot of them, taking care not to meet Itachi's gaze. It wasn't necessary. Something caught his attention at the same time Itachi joined him in the hallway.

A fifth person stood in their midst. Uchiha Sasuke. Amazingly, in this present time of standing among two of the most notorious criminals in the world and the Jinchuuriki of the legendary Kyuubi, all was overshadowed by the look on the face of that young Shinobi. For just a moment Yahiko forgot about everything as all that he could focus on was a look of unbound fury the kind he had never seen before in his entire life.

Unperturbed, Kisame drew the giant weapon from his back and rested the edge of it on Yahiko's shoulder. The impression dragged Yahiko back to his own set of circumstances. Such weight pressed down upon him. But that wasn't all. He could feel a strange texture to the weapon. It felt less like a blade and more like a serrated mace. More than that however, it felt to him like it was twitching.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Sasuke?" Itachi looked his little brother's way. It seemed Kisame couldn't help stealing a glance himself, though the weight of his weapon made sure that Yahiko didn't have all that much freedom to move anyway. That with Naruto made all three staring Sasuke's way and none looking at Yahiko.

"Uchiha Itachi..." Sasuke's voice shook with anger.

"What a special day." Kisame pressed some of his weapon's weight down on Yahiko to remind him not to move. "This is the second time today I've seen a Sharingan besides yours Itachi."

" _Sharingan?"_ Yahiko refocused his attention some more to look at Sasuke again. True to what Kisame had said, the boy's eyes had changed. They now looked a lot like Itachi's. It stirred up Yahiko's fears. _"He's not seriously thinking of fighting here is he?"_

Sasuke's face relaxed, but his eyes were every bit as focused with hate. "I will kill you!"

" _Idiot!"_ Yahiko gritted his teeth. Kisame began talking, but Yahiko forced himself to ignore it. The longer they talked, the longer he had to think up something. The situation had just changed for the worse. Now he had two children he had to somehow protect. One of which was determined to throw his life away in an impossible fight, and the other looking as lost as a lonely toddler in a marketplace. He had to... wait... _"What did Kisame just-"_

A flashing blue light burst into existence where Sasuke stood, accompanied by the sound of a thousand chirping birds. Lightning chakra blazed over Sasuke's hand, drawing Yahiko's attention to him again. Even in the life of shadows he had lived, he had heard of Kakashi's Chidori. But he had never seen it, and certainly hadn't heard of it getting passed down to one of his students. But looking at it even from afar, the technique looked clumsy, or perhaps just carelessly applied. Sasuke's skin was tearing up as the lightning ripped at him. He was ignoring the first precaution of channelling lightning chakra.

Sasuke charged. Kisame tensed just a touch. Realising an opportunity, Yahiko sprang into action. The length of Kisame's weapon had allowed him to suppress Yahiko from quite a distance. Enough to allow Yahiko to dive straight down for the floor. He tucked in his chin and compacted his torso, hitting the floor and throwing his legs overhead in a tight roll. As soon as the weight of his body rested fully on his shoulders, he kicked up with both feet directly for Kisame, who had only time to look Yahiko's way before his heels collided with the missing-nin's ribs. He felt the crunch he expected and twisted his body. Now was his chance to spring himself at Naruto and hopefully throw him out the window.

But Kisame's swift and frighteningly powerful kick obliterated that plan. His shin struck Yahiko directly in the stomach and lifted him clear off the ground. The wind knocked out of him, his vision blurred and didn't settle in time for him to hit the floor again. He wasn't sure how many times he rolled, but by the time his senses snapped back into place, he was almost at the far side of the hallway. He whipped his head towards Kisame in case the missing-nin was coming for a follow up. Instead he stiffened as he felt a sensation he had never experienced before.

Itachi's hand gripped Sasuke's wrist. Between the point of getting kicked by Kisame and landing where Yahiko did, a huge portion of the inn wall had been utterly destroyed by the release of the Chidori. That had little to do with what had caught Yahiko off guard. He, like Kisame and Itachi, was staring at Naruto. The boy's hands were put together in a chakra drawing seal. But what he gathered was no human chakra. The choking aura that reached even Yahiko from his distance away could only be that of the Kyuubi's.

Sasuke gave out a scream and he buckled at the knees. That seemed to disturb Naruto's focus, as he hastily began forming seals. _"Not in front of the enemy you idiot!"_ Yahiko staggered himself to his feet. He slipped a bit. In that time, Kisame swiped near Naruto with his weapon. And just like that, the aura of demon chakra vanished. Naruto stared stupefied, hands still held in their last seal. Yahiko could hardly blame him. The mere fact that Kisame swung so easily when he was supposed to have broken ribs perplexed him, never mind what just happened.

"My Samehada eats chakra." Kisame goaded. "Without that, you won't be any trouble, will you? Still... let's chop off a leg or an arm just to be safe..."

"NO!" Yahiko broke into a run. But then, all of a sudden, a large toad appeared between Naruto and Kisame, blocking the missing-nin's attack. That wasn't the only thing that showed up out of nowhere. Just behind Naruto, with an unconscious woman over his shoulder... stood Jiraiya.

"It looks like you didn't do enough research." In spite of the dangerous situation he'd appeared upon, there wasn't a single note of fear or concern to be heard in the toad sennin's voice. "I prefer to be the one making the move when it comes to the ladies. It's kind of my speciality."

Again Yahiko's breath caught in his throat. Though this one was a good one. For the first time since he was a child, he could hear the voice of his old teacher. It took him back decades, to a time when he was still just a boy living in a shack in the open countryside of Ame. He remembered the time when an Iwa nin had attacked him and his friend. Jiraiya had come too late back then. Now he made up for it by showing up in the very nick of time.

Suddenly Jiraiya began bellowing at the top of his lungs. "I, JIRAIYA, THE MANLIEST OF ALL MEN, WILL FALL FOR NO WOMAN'S WILES! WITH A FLASH OF MY DIGNIFIED SEXINESS, ALL THE LADIES FALL AT MY FEET!"

His outcry fell on silent returns. Yahiko grimaced. _"Oh yeah... he's a colossal pervert. I forgot."_

Naruto turned around and began yelling every bit as loud as Jiraiya. "WHO ARE YOU KIDDING?! THAT LADY SMILED AND YOU RAN OFF AFTER HER WAGGING YOUR TAIL! YOU'RE NOT KIDDING ANYONE WITH THAT COOL AND CLASSY ACT YOU ERO-SENNIN!"

In spite of the circumstances, Yahiko let slip a snort. _"I forgot about the nickname!"_ Holding his stomach, he moved forward to join the two of them on this side of the conflict. As he got closer he strengthened his stance. Though he still felt pain in his gut, he was able to stand beside the bickering teacher and student. Their arguments dragged off as he reached them, though he looked at neither. He felt so very uncomfortable now being mere feet away from the man he'd been lagging behind all day, but now wasn't the time to worry about silly things like that. There were still enemies, and Sasuke was alone on the other side of them.

Kisame gave a drawn out chuckle, hefting the Samehada over his shoulder. He looked ready and eager to fight at a moment's notice. "So this is Jiraiya of the legendary three eh? We knew you could be tempted with beautiful women, but we didn't expect her to keep you busy for long to begin with."

For some reason those words appeared to resonate with Naruto. "You know about the Ero-Sennin's true nature?"

"Don't call it my 'true nature'." Jiraiya complained.

Kisame appeared to not care for the ridiculous nature of the current discussion. "In any case, it seems your comrade over there was able to stall long enough for you take care of the genjutsu we put on that women."

Yahiko felt Jiraiya's eye pass over him and tensed a little bit. Nervously he looked at the sennin as Jiraiya stepped in front of him to sit the woman on his shoulder down on the floor by the wall. He couldn't tell what Jiraiya was thinking right now, but there was nothing of the warmth and welcome that a part of him had secretly been hoping for. Though partially dejected, getting that little detail out of the way allowed Yahiko to harden himself and concentrate on the enemy. There would be time to talk later.

"Using a genjutsu on a civilian, a woman no less, in order to draw me away. Where's your pride as men?"

Neither of the two appeared to rise to his bait. Instead, Itachi nodded thoughtfully. "I see, of course. So you were the one who informed Hatake Kakashi about us."

Snapping his head to Jiraiya, Yahiko saw nothing of the confusion he had hoped to find upon the sage's stare. A rock fell in his gut as he saw the truth of it. Of course...

Itachi continued. "Capturing Uzumaki Naruto. Those are our orders from the upper echelon of our organisation. The Akatsuki."

The only thing that changed on Jiraiya was a hardening of the eyes.

Yahiko gritted his teeth a second time and silently swore. So there it was. Of course of all people it would be Jiraiya who was looking into the Akatsuki. It made painful sense, given the stakes. Still, knowing about the Akatsuki, about its objective, didn't mean he knew everything. If there was one more hope that Yahiko could hang onto, it was that Jiraiya had only managed to learn this much. If fate would grant him a second hope, it would be that the truth was so vastly different from what he feared. If only Jiraiya's dismissive behaviour towards him was just a lack of recognition. It was honestly a coin toss.

Whatever the case, he refused to be a silent spectator any further. "Itachi took down Kakashi with a Sharingan technique. Apparently only Sasuke has a chance of overcoming it, so avoid eye contact." All eyes fell upon him. Jiraiya from the corner of his gaze, Naruto, shocked no doubt by the mention of his sensei. Itachi and Kisame merely watchful. Sasuke managed to lift his head enough to look Yahiko's way too upon hearing his name. "Kisame should be suffering from a broken rib, but it looks like he has a recovery ability along with that chakra eating weapon."

"So you do have a tongue in that mouth." Kisame smirked. "For now..."

Yahiko felt Jiraiya's gaze linger on him. Then he turned to looking at Itachi and Kisame again. "I appreciate the advice, but it doesn't matter."

"You don't think so?" Itachi had an inquisitive look about him.

"I don't." Jiraiya's face became a grave sort like Yahiko had never seen. "The two of you are going to die without being able to do a single thing to stop-"

"Don't!"

Another twang of annoyance shot through Yahiko as he saw Sasuke get to his feet. He knew this kind of stubbornness wasn't to be easily abated, so he focused on the current top priorities. He lowered his voice while Itachi and Kisame were looking at Sasuke. "Naruto-kun. Get behind us."

"What? No way! I can help-"

"You will." He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Whatever you were trying to do before needed a lot of chakra, right? We'll cover you while you build it up. Now hurry."

It was just a bluff. Words that the boy could agree with in order to get him out of the way. Naruto hesitated for a second, but it seemed he went along with it. He began to move behind them when a sudden noise turned him around. "Sasuke!"

In a swift motion, Itachi and Sasuke were at the far side of the hallway. Yahiko flinched as Itachi lifted his little brother off of the ground with a punch. He would have rushed to help, but with Kisame in the way it was risky. But that wasn't all there was to it. Jiraiya could easily help, but he just stood there and watched with a furrowed brow. It took Yahiko a second to understand why. Itachi was brutally assaulting Sasuke. Beating him in a way that would have broken a normal child. It was so unlike what he had seen of Itachi so far. He got it. Itachi wasn't looking to kill Sasuke. Just hurt him.

It pained Yahiko to watch, but he trusted Jiraiya's judgement. He pulled Naruto behind them both and shifted his attention to Kisame. He had been aware of it from the start, but the Monster of the Hidden Mist had been giving Yahiko a funny look all this time. Though he appraised Jiraiya, even now in the presence of a Sannin Yahiko could still feel Kisame looking upon him. A plain clothed man with purposefully generic features. It was unnerving to say the least.

There was a question hanging on the front of his mind. Something he wanted to ask Kisame, that was now impossible to bring up in the presence of Jiraiya. It taunted him to want to know but be unable to ask. Kisame had been so specific in his words when he said that today was the second time he'd seen a Sharingan besides Itachi's. With the undue attention Kisame was giving him, Yahiko couldn't help feeling like maybe those words were deliberate.

" _But why? What reason do you have to suspect me of knowing what I-"_

Sasuke cried out in pain once again. This time it seemed Naruto could not stay himself. He bolted past Yahiko and Jiraiya, clearing by Kisame with a hateful outcry to Itachi. It was the move that ended the talks and triggered the action. Kisame whipped around, drawing his blade to slash. The moment the Samehada obscured Kisame's vision, Yahiko moved in while Jiraiya formed seals. Dipping under the sword, Yahiko formed his own seals and focused his chakra into his fist. By the time Kisame saw him move in, he could do little more than be surprised by Yahiko's speed as the pit of his arm was struck.

Kisame backed off with a leap, leering at Yahiko. But there was concern in his eyes. The jutsu Yahiko had just used was a Suiton technique that thickened liquid within the impacted area. Right now the blood in Kisame's arm was clogging up in his veins. A lethal technique for many when applied right, but a hindrance to one like him. Yahiko dashed in with more confidence. His dominant arm was now much slower.

He heard Jiraiya's palms slap onto the floor. Reactively, he leapt into the air to attack Kisame from above and draw the missing-nin's sight away from the floor. If not for his combat reflexes kicking in, he would have lost all control of himself from what suddenly filled every corner of his vision around his target. The hall of the inn had out of nowhere turned into some kind of flesh. It shocked Kisame. Yahiko would be lying if he didn't admit that the sight distracted him too. He landed one foot on the Samehada as Kisame blocked. He lashed out with the other in a kick that would crush Kisame's nose and blind him.

It would have worked, had the Samehada not moved unnaturally under his foot. Instinct called again as he tried to grip it with his chakra, but it was a folly act. His chakra was eaten, his footing lost and he fell to the floor. While at the same moment Kisame broke into a dead sprint for Itachi.

"Get up you fool!" Jiraiya barked. Yahiko didn't need explaining why. There was a terrible smell coming from the flesh he was not lying in. It resembled stomach bile of a sorts. He jumped up to his feet, taking care not to touch his skin to anything. Ahead of him, the walls appeared to be closing in as Itachi and Kisame disappeared around the corner. "No getting away from me in here!"

Unsure of what to do, Yahiko merely watched all his angles. Naruto had stalled in place when the strange jutsu took effect. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. And Jiraiya was currently running past Yahiko, a distressed look on his face. Naruto took off after him. Yahiko followed in kind. The three of them burst around the corner... and saw black flames framing a hole in the wall, leading to outside.

"What the hell is _that_?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Don't touch it!" Jiraiya warned, stepping forward.

Yahiko watched in awed silence. In all of his life he could safely say he had never seen something so surreal as standing inside what looked like the guts of a monster while dark fire burned a hole out into the real world. He could only stare as Jiraiya knelt down in this mess of madness as if it were normal, drawing out a scroll and inscribing upon it. He flinched as the flames burst into life, flying for Jiraiya. But all that happened was the flames flew into the scroll, disappearing into nothing.

Jiraiya got back to his feet and slid the scroll away. He paused for a second, staring out of the hole in the wall. Then he turned around and let out a breath. "Well then. Everyone ok after all that?"

Yahiko stammered. Naruto whipped his head around and ran to the place where Sasuke had been. Where Sasuke was now reappearing, emerging from the wall of flesh. As he slumped down to the floor, Jiraiya struck his foot to the ground. Then, as if nothing had ever happened, the flesh disappeared, leaving only the partially ravaged hallway.

Naruto fell to Sasuke's side, checking to make sure his team mate was ok. Yahiko felt Jiraiya approach to his side. They were both watching the two Genin, but with the situation now averted, Yahiko couldn't help but have his nervous attention return to the older man.

"You've been following us since we left Konoha." Jiraiya remarked. He looked at Yahiko again, taking a longer time to study his side profile. "Who sent you?"

It was a straight forward question, yet it meant the world to Yahiko. Jiraiya didn't recognise him. The stern treatment was directed to Yahiko as an agent sent by one of the Konoha higher ups by the sound of things. Though it pained him a little bit that even now the man he had recognised from first glance still couldn't tell who he was, he was ultimately glad about it. Now there was no reason not to reintroduce himself to Jiraiya on his own terms.

With a deep breath, he turned and faced Jiraiya. "No one sent-" a sudden flash of movement in the corner of his eye had him reactively shoving Jiraiya away. "Look out!"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The sole of a sandal connected with Yahiko's face. That was the only sensation that registered with him as he soared through the air. Well, that and pain. Oh god the pain.

* * *

The sounds of casual chatter and cutlery scraping against plates. The warmth of a large, busy room and the low mood lighting that made the place classy, yet comfortable. A soft seat in a booth with a varnished table. A dish cloth holding a handful of ice, pressed against the side of his face by his own hand. These were the first sensations that came to Yahiko once he started to regain his senses.

A groan passed through his lips as he began to come to.

"Hey Ero-Sennin! He's awake!"

Naruto's voice helped to centre Yahiko. He lifted his head and found the boy sitting across from him, turned to call out across the restaurant they appeared to be sitting in. The next thing he saw was Naruto ducking down as a coaster with the spin and force of a shuriken whipped where his head had been and bounced off of the wall.

"Don't yell names like that in public!" Jiraiya scolded with equal volume while the barman reproached him for throwing the coaster.

Grumpily Naruto grumbled to himself under his breath while Jiraiya navigated around the restaurant carrying a tray with three cups and a steaming pot. Yahiko straightened up and put the dishcloth with ice in an empty bowl he presumed was there for the very purpose of keeping the water from spilling. Jiraiya set the tray down, shared out the cups and sat beside Naruto.

He lifted the pot and began to pour out green tea. "I heard an interesting story from Gai, the man who kicked you back there." there was a nonchalance about the way Jiraiya held himself that was subtly intimidating. At least, that was the intent as Yahiko could understand. He couldn't get past the lonely nostalgia of it all. "Apparently you were on the scene when he found Itachi and Kisame to be fighting with Kakashi and the other Jonin." he filled his own cup last and set it down with a rather loud clunk of clay on wood. "I have my own theories, but first I'd like to hear your version of events. Let's start off simple. Who are you?"

Yahiko took in and let out a long breath. Inwardly he thanked Jiraiya for making this simple. He would have likely dallied around the issue himself otherwise. Instead he was able to straighten his back, lift his head and look Jiraiya seriously in the eye as he tried again to reintroduce himself.

"My name is Yahiko."


End file.
